Recent advances in biological production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid

3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) is a valuable platform chemical that can be produced biologically from glucose or glycerol. This review article provides an overview and the current status of microbial 3-HP production. The constraints of microbial 3-HP production and possible solutions are also described. Finally, future prospects of biological 3-HP production are discussed.     

Process engineering for microbial production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid

Due to concerns about the unsustainability and predictable shortage of fossil feedstocks, research efforts are currently being made to develop new processes for production of commodities using alternative feedstocks. 3-Hydroxypropionic acid (CAS 503–66-2) was recognised by the US Department of Energy as one of the most promising value-added chemicals that can be obtained from biomass. This article aims at reviewing the various strategies implemented thus far for 3-hydroxypropionic acid bioproduction. Special attention is given here to process engineering issues. The variety of possible metabolic pathways is also described in order to highlight how process design can be guided by their understanding. The most recent advances are described here in order to draw up a panorama of microbial 3-hydroxypropionic acid production: best performances to date, remaining hurdles and foreseeable developments. Important milestones have been achieved, and process metrics are getting closer to commercial relevance. New strategies are continuously being developed that involve new microbial strains, new technologies, or new carbon sources in order to overcome the various hurdles inherent to the different microbial routes.     

生物合成3-羟基丙酸的代谢工程研究进展

3-羟基丙酸(3-HP)作为一种重要的平台化合物,以此为底物能够合成多种具有商业潜质的生物制品。野生菌合成3-HP产量较低,严重限制3-HP的大规模应用与生产,通过改造合成代谢通路的相关基因,构建以廉价底物为碳源的工程菌株,实现降低生产成本提高产量的目的。文中将对近年来国内外通过代谢工程合成3-羟基丙酸的研究进展进行概述,并对甘油途径、丙二酸单酰辅酶A途径、β-丙氨酸等途径合成3-HP的优缺点进行总结分析,对3-HP未来发展前景进行展望。     

工业乳酸发酵的近期进展

乳酸是一种重要的多用途有机酸。通过菌种改良和发酵工艺技术的改进,可以大大提升微生物发酵技术水平,降低成本。简要综述有关的研究进展。     

Recent trends in metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the production of advanced biofuels

1. Download : Download high-res image (168KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Towards systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms for amino acid production

Microorganisms capable of efficient production of amino acids have traditionally been developed by random mutation and selection method, which might cause unwanted physiological changes in cellular metabolism. Rational genome-wide metabolic engineering based on systems and synthetic biology tools, which is termed 'systems metabolic engineering', is rising as an alternative to overcome these problems. Recently, several amino acid producers have been successfully developed by systems metabolic engineering, where the metabolic engineering procedures were performed within a systems biology framework, and entire metabolic networks, including complex regulatory circuits, were engineered in an integrated manner. Here we review the current status of systems metabolic engineering successfully applied for developing amino acid producing strains and discuss future prospects.     

Biosynthetic pathways for 3-hydroxypropionic acid production

Biobased platform chemicals have attracted growing interest recently. Among them, 3-hydroxypropionic acid receives significant attention due to its applications in the synthesis of novel polymer materials and other derivatives. To establish a biotechnology route instead of the problematic chemical synthesis of 3-hydroxypropionic acid, biosynthetic pathway is required, and the strategies of how to engineer a microbe to produce this product should be considered. In the present review, we summarize and review all known pathways, which could be potentially constructed for 3-hydroxypropionic acid production. Mass and redox balances are discussed in detail. Thermodynamic favorability is evaluated by standard Gibbs free energy. The assembly of pathways and possible solutions are proposed. Several new techniques and future research needs are also covered.     

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid from glucose and xylose

3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) is a promising platform chemical which can be used for the production of various value-added chemicals. In this study,Corynebacterium glutamicum was metabolically engineered to efficiently produce 3-HP from glucose and xylose via the glycerol pathway. A functional 3-HP synthesis pathway was engineered through a combination of genes involved in glycerol synthesis (fusion of gpd and gpp from Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and 3-HP production (pduCDEGH from Klebsiella pneumoniae and aldehyde dehydrogenases from various resources). High 3-HP yield was achieved by screening of active aldehyde dehydrogenases and by minimizing byproduct synthesis (gapA^A1GΔldhAΔpta-ackAΔpoxBΔglpK). Substitution of phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent glucose uptake system (PTS) by inositol permeases (iolT1) and glucokinase (glk) further increased 3-HP production to 38.6 g/L, with the yield of 0.48 g/g glucose. To broaden its substrate spectrum, the engineered strain was modified to incorporate the pentose transport gene araE and xylose catabolic gene xylAB, allowing for the simultaneous utilization of glucose and xylose. Combination of these genetic manipulations resulted in an engineered C. glutamicum strain capable of producing 62.6 g/L 3-HP at a yield of 0.51 g/g glucose in fed-batch fermentation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest titer and yield of 3-HP from sugar. This is also the first report for the production of 3-HP from xylose, opening the way toward 3-HP production from abundant lignocellulosic feedstocks.     

静息细胞转化生产3-羟基丙酸的条件优化

本文研究了静息细胞生物转化生产3-羟基丙酸的反应体系。考察了以甘油为底物,利用静息细胞转化生产3一羟基丙酸的相关因素,确定了最佳的转化条件：细胞浓度20g／L,甘油浓度20g／L,辅酶VB12浓度10mg／L,NAD＋浓度0．15mmol／L,温度35℃,反应体系为0．05mol／LpH7．0Tris—HCl缓冲液。在上述条件下反应6h后,3-羟基丙酸的产量达到为3．17g／L,底物转化率为28．33％。由上述结果可知,采用静息细胞转化法为3-HP的生物合成提供了一种可能的方法。     

Metabolic engineering of Cupriavidus necator H16 for heterotrophic and autotrophic production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid

3-Hydroxypropionate (3-HP) is a versatile compound for chemical synthesis and a potential building block for biodegradable polymers. Cupriavidus necator H16, a facultative chemolithoautotroph, is an attractive production chassis and has been extensively studied as a model organism for biopolymer production. Here, we engineered C. necator H16 for 3-HP biosynthesis from its central metabolism. Wild type C. necator H16 can use 3-HP as a carbon source, a highly undesirable trait for a 3-HP production chassis. However, deletion of its three (methyl-)malonate semialdehyde dehydrogenases (mmsA1, mmsA2 and mmsA3) resulted in a strain that cannot grow on 3-HP as the sole carbon source, and this strain was selected as our production host. A stepwise approach was used to construct pathways for 3-HP production via β-alanine. Two additional gene deletion targets were identified during the pathway construction process. Deletion of the 3-hydroxypropionate dehydrogenase, encoded by hpdH, prevented the re-consumption of the 3-HP produced by our engineered strains, while deletion of gdhA1, annotated as a glutamate dehydrogenase, prevented the utilization of aspartate as a carbon source, one of the key pathway intermediates. The final strain carrying these deletions was able to produce up to 8 mM 3-HP heterotrophically. Furthermore, an engineered strain was able to produce 0.5 mM 3-HP under autotrophic conditions, using CO₂ as sole carbon source. These results form the basis for establishing C. necator H16 as an efficient platform for the production of 3-HP and 3-HP-containing polymers.     

Current status of the metabolic engineering of microorganisms for biohydrogen production

The improvement of H₂ production capabilities of hydrogen (H₂)-producing microorganisms is a challenging issue. Microorganisms have evolved for fast growth and substrate utilization rather than H₂ production. To develop good H₂-producing biocatalysts, many studies have focused on the redirection and/or reconstruction of cellular metabolisms. These studies included the elimination of enzymes and carbon pathways interfering or competing with H₂ production, the incorporation of non-native metabolic pathways leading to H₂ production, the utilization of various carbon substrates, the rectification of H₂-producting enzymes (nitrogenase and hydrogenase) and photophosphorylation systems, and in silico pathway flux analysis, among others. Owing to these studies, significant improvements in the yield and rate of H₂ production, and in the stability of H₂ production activity, were reached. This review presents and discusses the recent developments in biohydrogen production, with a focus on metabolic pathway engineering.     

谷氨酸棒杆菌的代谢工程使能技术研究进展

谷氨酸棒杆菌Corynebacterium glutamicum是重要的工业微生物,尤其是在氨基酸工业中,每年用于600余万t氨基酸的生物制造。近年来,谷氨酸棒杆菌代谢工程使能技术正在不断完善,不仅加快了细胞工厂的创建和优化,拓展了底物谱和产物谱,也推动了谷氨酸棒杆菌的基础研究,使谷氨酸棒杆菌成为代谢工程的理想底盘细胞。文中综述了近期针对谷氨酸棒杆菌开发的代谢工程使能技术,着重介绍了基于CRISPR的基因组编辑、基因表达调控、适应性进化和生物传感器等技术的开发和应用。     

Recent advances in systems metabolic engineering tools and strategies

1. Download : Download high-res image (127KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

基因工程微生物合成鼠李糖脂表面活性剂的研究进展

鼠李糖脂是一类重要的生物表面活性剂。相比于化学合成的表面活性剂,其具有更优秀的理化性质及环境友好等特点,被广泛应用于微生物采油、环境污染修复等工程中。目前,鼠李糖脂的工业生产主要采用铜绿假单胞菌这一具有致病性的天然合成菌株,与此同时,受菌株遗传背景的限制,优化发酵过程等方法在产量提升方面遇到了一些瓶颈问题。利用基因工程方法对菌株进行改良有望进一步提高鼠李糖脂生产的安全性、产量、产物性能等多项指标,因此受到了越来越广泛的关注。本文综述了近年来利用基因工程方法优化鼠李糖脂生物合成的最新进展,讨论了异源合成、代谢通路改造、基因表达优化、蛋白质工程、底盘工程等多种策略的应用,并展望了一系列可行的研究方向。     

Recent trends in metabolic engineering of microbial chemical factories

1. Download : Download high-res image (77KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Benchmarking recombinant Pichia pastoris for 3-hydroxypropionic acid production from glycerol

The use of the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffi) to produce heterologous proteins has been largely reported. However, investigations addressing the potential of this yeast to produce bulk chemicals are still scarce. In this study, we have studied the use of P. pastoris as a cell factory to produce the commodity chemical 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) from glycerol. 3-HP is a chemical platform which can be converted into acrylic acid and to other alternatives to petroleum-based products. To this end, the mcr gene from Chloroflexus aurantiacus was introduced into P. pastoris. This single modification allowed the production of 3-HP from glycerol through the malonyl-CoA pathway. Further enzyme and metabolic engineering modifications aimed at increasing cofactor and metabolic precursors availability allowed a 14-fold increase in the production of 3-HP compared to the initial strain. The best strain (PpHP6) was tested in a fed-batch culture, achieving a final concentration of 3-HP of 24.75 g l⁻¹, a product yield of 0.13 g g⁻¹ and a volumetric productivity of 0.54 g l⁻¹ h⁻¹, which, to our knowledge, is the highest volumetric productivity reported in yeast. These results benchmark P. pastoris as a promising platform to produce bulk chemicals for the revalorization of crude glycerol and, in particular, to produce 3-HP.