<p><i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> is a premier chassis organism for our project. As a kind of common yeast found in human gut, <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> is considered safe for human and has been extensively studied for its potential application in synthetic biology. As a eukaryotic organism, it possesses more complex and precise mechanisms for gene expression regulation, and various modification approaches also enhance its ability to secrete target proteins. Of note, it has been employed to prevent and treat various diarrheal disorders due to its capability to reshape the balance of gut flora. We believe that <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> is the best chassis organism to achieve our goal.</p>
<p>We hope to provide a non-invasive and gentle drug delivery method for IBD patients. Therefore, we designed muscone as a molecular switch for the drug delivery engineering strain. We transferred the muscone receptor from mouse olfactory epithelial cells into <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>. By modifying the mating pathway of <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>, we enabled the muscone receptor to function as a signal switch in the yeast.</p>
<p>We assisted the muscone receptor in functioning as a signal switch in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> through the G protein-coupled pathway by introducing a Gα protein modified with 5 amino acids at its C-terminus. We also linked the lactate dehydrogenase gene downstream of the promoter in the mating pathway. In the presence of muscone molecules, the molecular switch is activated, and the expression of lactate dehydrogenase is initiated through the mating pathway of the G protein-coupled <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>.</p>
