Education

Research Experience

Research Interests

Synthetic Biology and metabolic engineering:

1. Synthetic Biology tool development, including biosensor construction and application, genetic circuit development, expanding the genomic engineering tool and the directed evolution technology

2. Metabolic engineering: Pathway engineering of micro-organisms towards the efficient production of useful bulk chemicals and value-added compounds.

Research Projects

1.Development of in vivo intelligent directed evolution, the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2024YFC3407100), 2024-2027, 5,000,000 yuan

2.Construction of quorum sensing circuit in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Its Application in metabolic dynamic regulation.National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 31970082), 2020-2023，580,000 yuan

3.Design and construction of efficient microbial cell factories,National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2021YFC2100500), 2021-2024，1,280,000 yuan

4.Construction and applications of microbial cell factories for chemical synthesis，the National Key R&D Program of China (No.2019YFA0904900), 2020-2024，645,000 yuan

5.Yeast synthetic biology，2021-2023，National Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2020RQ18)，400,000yuan

6.The construction of malonyl-CoA sensor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the design of the malonyl-CoA regulated in vivo continuous genome evolution, National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.31770101), 2018-2021, 650,000yuan

7.The metabolic regulation of succinic acid and fumaric acid,National Natural Science Foundation of China(ZR2022ZD24)，2023-2025，1,800,000 yuan

8.The construction and applications of high quality yeast chassises，the Key R&D Program of Shandong Province(2022SFGC0102-03)，2023-2025，3,300,000yuan

Representative Publications

1.Cui Z, Zhong Y, Sun Z, Jiang Z, Deng J, Wang Q, Nielsen J,Hou J*, Qi Q*. Reconfiguration of the reductive TCA cycle enables high-level succinic acid production by Yarrowia lipolytica. Nat Commun. 2023 Dec 20;14(1):8480.

2.Zhai H, Cui L, Xiong Z, Qi Q,Hou J*. CRISPR-mediated protein-tagging signal amplification systems for efficient transcriptional activation and repression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Nucleic Acids Res. 2022 Jun 10;50(10):5988-6000

3.Zhang J, Sun L, Yang W, Xu H, Sheng J, Liu M, Qi Q,Hou J*. Biosynthesis of retinyl esters in Yarrowia lipolytica through metabolic engineering and fermentation condition optimization. Green Chemistry. 2025.27, 2511-2521.

4.Liu L, Zhu Y, Zhang J, Sun L, Sheng J, Tan Z, Qi Q,Hou J*. Metabolic Engineering and Strain Mating of Yarrowia lipolytica for Sustainable Production of Prenylated Aromatic Compounds. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2025, 13, 8, 3149–3159

5.Chai L, Che J, Liu X, Wang Z, Qi Q*,Hou J*. Secretory and metabolic engineering of squalene in Yarrowia lipolytica. Bioresource Technology. 2025.421, 132171

6.Chai L, Che J, Qi Q,Hou J*. Metabolic engineering for squalene production: advances and perspectives. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2024, 72, 50, 27715–27725

7.Qiu C, Tao H, Shen Y, Qi Q,Hou J*.Dynamic-tuning yeast storage carbohydrate improves the production of acetyl-CoA-derived chemicals. iScience. 2023. 26, 105817

8.Qiu C, Huang M, Hou Y, Tao H, Zhao J, Shen Y, Bao X, Qi Q,Hou J*.Biosensor-coupled in vivo mutagenesis and omics analysis reveals reduced lysine and arginine synthesis to improve malonyl-Coenzyme A flux inSaccharomyces cerevisiae. mSystems.2022 Apr 26;7(2):e0136621

9.Yang X, Liu J, Zhang J, Shen Y, Qi Q, Bao X,Hou J*. Quorum sensing-mediated protein degradation for dynamic metabolic pathway control in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Metab Eng. 2021; 64: 85–94

10.Liu M, Zhang J, Ye J, Qi Q,Hou J*. Morphological and Metabolic Engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica to Increase β-Carotene Production, ACS Synth Biol.2021 Dec 17;10(12):3551-3560.

Patents

1.A method for synthesis of terpenoids through metabolic pathway localization in Yarrowia lipolytica，ZL201910384517.8.

2.A high-β-carotene-producing strain of Yarrowia lipolytica and its applications.

ZL 202110075231.9/

3.A β-farnesene synthase mutant and its application.ZL202310293091.1.

4.An engineered Yarrowia lipolytica strain for producing prenylated aromatic compounds, its construction method, and applications. 202411386186.9.

5.An engineered Yarrowia lipolytica strain for producing retinol, retinyl esters and their derivatives, along with its fermentation method and applications. 2025101101099.