Module 02 · Strain and pathway engineering
KeySS — key starting strains and pathway engineering.
KeySS selects the host, designs the pathway, edits the genome and screens the results, starting from key starting strain families built from the Cutis Microbe Bank, so that a strain reaches process development already built for industrial performance.
What it solves
Native organisms rarely produce a target at industrially useful performance.
Nature optimises a microbe for survival, not for making one molecule in quantity. A wild strain may carry the right enzymes and still send most of its carbon to growth and side products, or produce the target only under conditions no process can hold.
KeySS treats the organism as something to be engineered towards an industrial specification: the host chosen for the job, the pathway designed for the host, the genome edited precisely, and each round of changes screened and learned from before the next begins.
KeySS families
Starting strains connected to target molecule classes.
A key starting strain already produces a key starting material: the branch point from which a whole family of molecules can be reached. Starting a programme from a KeySS instead of a wild strain provides a defined biological starting point.
From biomass, the strain families reach UV-filter molecules such as mycosporine-like amino acids, dyes and pigments such as indigo, Tyrian purple and indirubin, sterol-derived pharmaceutical ingredients, and amino-acid-derived actives.
Key starting strains → molecule classes
How it works
Select, design, edit, learn.
Four steps that repeat until a lead strain meets the criteria agreed for the programme.
Select host: The organism is chosen for growth, handling and compatibility with the process it will eventually run in.
Design pathway: The route to the target is designed around the host’s own metabolism and where it competes for carbon and energy.
Edit genome: Changes are made precisely and traceably, so the strain’s behaviour is designed rather than inherited.
Screen & learn: Variants are compared in parallel on the biofoundry; what is learned decides the next round of design.
Capabilities
What KeySS brings to a programme.
Host strategy
Selecting and preparing an industrial host on the criteria that matter for the target and the intended process.
Key starting strains
Starting from a KeySS family that already reaches the target’s class of molecules, instead of from a wild isolate.
Bottleneck enzyme engineering
Identifying the rate-limiting step and improving it through modelled variant libraries on the biofoundry.
Pathway construction and flux balancing
Assembling the route in the host, closing competing branches and balancing the cell’s resources between growth and product.
Robotic high-throughput screening
Comparing large numbers of variants in parallel to select leads on performance, stability and process fit.
Data-led iteration and IP
Using what each round reveals to decide the next design, and turning improved enzymes and strains into patents.
What partners receive
Defined outputs, not open-ended research.
A KeySS programme is scoped around outputs a partner can evaluate and build on. The exact scope is agreed for each programme.
- 01
Defined development plan
Objectives, stages and the criteria a lead strain must meet, agreed before work begins.
- 02
Screened lead strains
Candidate strains selected against the agreed criteria, with the comparison behind the choice.
- 03
Analytical package
The methods used to measure identity, performance and quality during the programme.
- 04
Transfer-ready documentation scope
An agreed scope of documentation that lets the strain move into process development or to a partner’s team.
Related products and research
Explore the product context.
Blugene
Explore bio-based indigo and its textile applications.
VSTER lab
Explore hair and skin booster products and related research directions.
Confidential discussion
Request a technical discussion under NDA
Programme details, strain data and pathway specifics are shared only under a non-disclosure agreement. Tell us the target and the application, and we will propose the next step.