초록
<P><B>Background</B></P><P>Fumaric acid is a commercially important component of foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and industrial materials, yet the current methods of production are unsustainable and ecologically destructive.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>In this study, the fumarate biosynthetic pathway involving reductive reactions of the tricarboxylic acid cycle was exogenously introduced in <I>S. cerevisiae </I>by a series of simple genetic modifications. First, the <I>Rhizopus oryzae </I>genes for malate dehydrogenase (<I>RoMDH</I>) and fumarase (<I>RoFUM1</I>) were heterologously expressed. Then, expression of the endogenous pyruvate carboxylase (<I>PYC2</I>) was up-regulated. The resultant yeast strain, FMME-001 ↑<I>PYC2 </I>+ ↑<I>RoMDH</I>, was capable of producing significantly higher yields of fumarate in the glucose medium (3.18 ± 0.15 g liter<SUP>-1</SUP>) than the control strain FMME-001 empty vector.</P><P><B>Conclusions</B></P><P>The results presented here provide a novel strategy for fumarate biosynthesis, which represents an important advancement in producing high yields of fumarate in a sustainable and ecologically-friendly manner.</P>