A bacterial-derived quorum-sensing platform enables dynamic metabolic control in yeast

Journal article, 2026

Dynamic regulation of metabolic pathways is critical for optimizing microbial production, yet robust quorum-sensing (QS) systems remain largely unavailable in eukaryotic microorganisms. Here, we establish a bacterial-derived QS platform in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by repurposing the noncanonical RpaI/RpaR system (a LuxI/R-type QS system), which produces p-coumaroyl-homoserine lactone as a signal molecule, bypassing a fundamental metabolic barrier that has prevented functional bacterial QS in eukaryotes. The engineered circuit features low leakage, high sensitivity, and broad dynamic range. By coupling QS with signal amplification and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) interference modules, we create a bifunctional cascade system enabling autonomous transcriptional activation and repression. This QS platform enables growth-production decoupling and improves the production of cordycepin, geraniol, and 3-hydroxypropionic acid in both baseline and high-producing strains. Our work establishes a functional bacterial QS system in yeast and expands the synthetic biology toolkit for eukaryotic hosts.