产瓦伦西亚烯酿酒酵母的表达载体适配及发酵碳氮源优化

瓦伦西亚烯是一种倍半萜类化合物,广泛应用于香水、香皂、食品和饮料等工业制造上。但由于其自然含量极低,且目前获取瓦伦西亚烯的方法较为麻烦且花费高,因而构建细胞工厂进行瓦伦西亚烯的生物合成是更为高效和环保的方法。选取酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)作为宿主构建细胞工厂,先在酿酒酵母基因组上引入黄扁柏的瓦伦西亚烯合成酶(Valencene synthase from Callitropsis nootkatensis,CnVS),实现瓦伦西亚烯的初步合成,初始产量为4.16 mg/L。随后利用CRISPR/Cas9系统对酿酒酵母中Mevalonate(MVA)途径的erg9和rox1基因进行敲除,提高通往瓦伦西亚烯合成的碳流量。不同碳氮源浓度发酵的结果表明,细胞生长积累过高可能不利于瓦伦西亚烯的积累。最后探究了不同CnVS表达载体对瓦伦西亚烯产量的影响,并获得17.54 mg/L的最高产量,是出发菌株的4.2倍。     

Positioning Bacillus subtilis as terpenoid cell factory

Increasing demands for bioactive compounds have motivated researchers to employ micro-organisms to produce complex natural products. Currently, Bacillus subtilis has been attracting lots of attention to be developed into terpenoids cell factories due to its generally recognized safe status and high isoprene precursor biosynthesis capacity by endogenous methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway. In this review, we describe the up-to-date knowledge of each enzyme in MEP pathway and the subsequent steps of isomerization and condensation of C5 isoprene precursors. In addition, several representative terpene synthases expressed in B. subtilis and the engineering steps to improve corresponding terpenoids production are systematically discussed. Furthermore, the current available genetic tools are mentioned as along with promising strategies to improve terpenoids in B. subtilis, hoping to inspire future directions in metabolic engineering of B. subtilis for further terpenoid cell factory development.     

Increasing diterpene yield with a modular metabolic engineering system in E. coli: comparison of MEV and MEP isoprenoid precursor pathway engineering

Engineering biosynthetic pathways in heterologous microbial host organisms offers an elegant approach to pathway elucidation via the incorporation of putative biosynthetic enzymes and characterization of resulting novel metabolites. Our previous work in Escherichia coli demonstrated the feasibility of a facile modular approach to engineering the production of labdane-related diterpene (20 carbon) natural products. However, yield was limited (<0.1 mg/L), presumably due to reliance on endogenous production of the isoprenoid precursors dimethylallyl diphosphate and isopentenyl diphosphate. Here, we report incorporation of either a heterologous mevalonate pathway (MEV) or enhancement of the endogenous methyl erythritol phosphate pathway (MEP) with our modular metabolic engineering system. With MEP pathway enhancement, it was found that pyruvate supplementation of rich media and simultaneous overexpression of three genes (idi, dxs, and dxr) resulted in the greatest increase in diterpene yield, indicating distributed metabolic control within this pathway. Incorporation of a heterologous MEV pathway in bioreactor grown cultures resulted in significantly higher yields than MEP pathway enhancement. We have established suitable growth conditions for diterpene production levels ranging from 10 to >100 mg/L of E. coli culture. These amounts are sufficient for nuclear magnetic resonance analyses, enabling characterization of enzymatic products and hence, pathway elucidation. Furthermore, these results represent an up to >1,000-fold improvement in diterpene production from our facile, modular platform, with MEP pathway enhancement offering a cost effective alternative with reasonable yield. Finally, we reiterate here that this modular approach is expandable and should be easily adaptable to the production of any terpenoid natural product.     

Engineering a powerful green cell factory for robust photoautotrophic diterpenoid production

Diterpenoids display a large and structurally diverse class of natural compounds mainly found as specialized plant metabolites. Due to their diverse biological functions they represent an essential source for various industrially relevant applications as biopharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and fragrances. However, commercial production utilizing their native hosts is inhibited by low abundances, limited cultivability, and challenging extraction, while the precise stereochemistry displays a particular challenge for chemical synthesis. Due to a high carbon flux through their native 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway towards photosynthetically active pigments, green microalgae hold great potential as efficient and sustainable heterologous chassis for sustainable biosynthesis of plant-derived diterpenoids. In this study, innovative synthetic biology and efficient metabolic engineering strategies were systematically combined to re-direct the metabolic flux through the MEP pathway for efficient heterologous diterpenoid synthesis in C. reinhardtii. Engineering of the 1-Deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase (DXS) as the main rate-limiting enzyme of the MEP pathway and overexpression of diterpene synthase fusion proteins increased the production of high-value diterpenoids. Applying fully photoautotrophic high cell density cultivations demonstrate potent and sustainable production of the high-value diterpenoid sclareol up to 656 mg L⁻¹ with a maximal productivity of 78 mg L⁻¹ day⁻¹ in a 2.5 L scale photobioreactor, which is comparable to sclareol titers reached by highly engineered yeast. Consequently, this work represents a breakthrough in establishing a powerful phototrophic green cell factory for the competetive use in industrial biotechnology.     

Engineering Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) for high-yield production of germacrene A,a precursor of β-elemene via combinatorial metabolic engineering strategies

β-elemene is one of the most commonly used antineoplastic drugs in cancer treatment. As a plant-derived natural chemical, biologically engineering microorganisms to produce germacrene A to be converted to β-elemene harbors great expectations since chemical synthesis and plant isolation methods come with their production deficiencies. In this study, we report the design of an Escherichia coli cell factory for the de novo production of germacrene A to be converted to β-elemene from a simple carbon source. A series of systematic approaches of engineering the isoprenoid and central carbon pathways, translational and protein engineering of the sesquiterpene synthase, and exporter engineering yielded high-efficient β-elemene production. Specifically, deleting competing pathways in the central carbon pathway ensured the availability of acetyl-coA, pyruvate, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate for the isoprenoid pathways. Adopting lycopene color as a high throughput screening method, an optimized NS^Y305N was obtained via error-prone polymerase chain reaction mutagenesis. Further overexpression of key pathway enzymes, exporter genes, and translational engineering produced 1161.09 mg/L of β-elemene in a shake flask. Finally, we detected the highest reported titer of 3.52 g/L of β-elemene and 2.13 g/L germacrene A produced by an E. coli cell factory in a 4-L fed-batch fermentation. The systematic engineering reported here generally applies to microbial production of a broader range of chemicals. This illustrates that rewiring E. coli central metabolism is viable for producing acetyl-coA-derived and pyruvate-derived molecules cost-effectively.     

Valencene synthase from the heartwood of Nootka cypress (Callitropsis nootkatensis) for biotechnological production of valencene

Nootkatone is one of the major terpenes in the heartwood of the Nootka cypress Callitropsis nootkatensis. It is an oxidized sesquiterpene, which has been postulated to be derived from valencene. Both valencene and nootkatone are used for flavouring citrus beverages and are considered among the most valuable terpenes used at commercial scale. Functional evaluation of putative terpene synthase genes sourced by large‐scale EST sequencing from Nootka cypress wood revealed a valencene synthase gene (CnVS). CnVS expression in different tissues from the tree correlates well with nootkatone content, suggesting that CnVS represents the first dedicated gene in the nootkatone biosynthetic pathway in C. nootkatensis The gene belongs to the gymnosperm‐specific TPS‐d subfamily of terpenes synthases and its protein sequence has low similarity to known citrus valencene synthases. In vitro, CnVS displays high robustness under different pH and temperature regimes, potentially beneficial properties for application in different host and physiological conditions. Biotechnological production of sesquiterpenes has been shown to be feasible, but productivity of microbial strains expressing valencene synthase from Citrus is low, indicating that optimization of valencene synthase activity is needed. Indeed, expression of CnVS in Saccharomyces cerevisiae indicated potential for higher yields. In an optimized Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain, expression of CnVS increased valencene yields 14‐fold to 352 mg/L, bringing production to levels with industrial potential.     

Production of the Inaccessible Sesquiterpene (−)‐5‐Epieremophilene by Metabolically Engineered Escherichia coli

(?)‐5‐Epieremophilene, an epimer of the versatile sesquiterpene (+)‐valencene, is an inaccessible natural product catalyzed by three sesquiterpene synthases (SmSTPSs1‐3) of the Chinese medicinal herb Salvia miltiorrhiza, and its biological activity remains less explored. In this study, three metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains were constructed for (?)‐5‐epieremophilene production with yields of 42.4–76.0 mg/L in shake‐flask culture. Introducing an additional copy of farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FDPS) gene through fusion expression of SmSTPS1‐FDPS or dividing the FDP synthetic pathway into two modules resulted in significantly improved production, and ultimately 250 mg of (?)‐5‐epieremophilene were achieved. Biological assay indicated that (?)‐5‐epieremophilene showed significant antifeedant activity against Helicoverpa armigera (EC₅₀=1.25 μg/cm²), a common pest of S. miltiorrhiza, implying its potential defensive role in the plant. The results provided an ideal material supply for studying other potential biological activities of (?)‐5‐epieremophilene, and also a strategy for manipulating terpene production in engineered E. coli using synthetic biology.     

Reconstructing a recycling and nonauxotroph biosynthetic pathway in Escherichia coli toward highly efficient production of L-citrulline

L-citrulline is a high-value amino acid with promising application in medicinal and food industries. Construction of highly efficient microbial cell factories for L-citrulline production is still an open issue due to complex metabolic flux distribution and L-arginine auxotrophy. In this study, we constructed a nonauxotrophic cell factory in Escherichia coli for high-titer L-citrulline production by coupling modular engineering strategies with dynamic pathway regulation. First, the biosynthetic pathway of L-citrulline was enhanced after blockage of the degradation pathway and introduction of heterologous biosynthetic genes from Corynebacterium glutamicum. Specifically, a superior recycling biosynthetic pathway was designed to replace the native linear pathway by deleting native acetylornithine deacetylase. Next, the carbamoyl phosphate and L-glutamate biosynthetic modules, the NADPH generation module, and the efflux module were modified to increase L-citrulline titer further. Finally, a toggle switch that responded to cell density was designed to dynamically control the expression of the argG gene and reconstruct a nonauxotrophic pathway. Without extra supplement of L-arginine during fermentation, the final CIT24 strain produced 82.1 g/L L-citrulline in a 5-L bioreactor with a yield of 0.34 g/g glucose and a productivity of 1.71 g/(L ⋅ h), which were the highest values reported by microbial fermentation. Our study not only demonstrated the successful design of cell factory for high-level L-citrulline production but also provided references of coupling the rational module engineering strategies and dynamic regulation strategies to produce high-value intermediate metabolites.     

Engineering cyanobacteria as cell factories for direct trehalose production from CO2

Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide with a wide range of applications in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Cyanobacteria are promising cell factories to produce biochemicals by using solar energy and CO₂. Trehalose is biosynthesized at low intracellular concentrations as a salt-inducible compatible solute in some cyanobacteria. In the current study, we demonstrated the efficient trehalose production without salt induction in cyanobacteria by metabolic engineering. The trehalose transporter 1 (TRET1) from an anhydrobiotic insect (Polypedilum vanderplanki) was successfully expressed in the engineered strains and the intracellular trehalose was efficiently secreted to the medium. As the results, the engineered strain co-expressing maltooligosyl trehalose synthase (MTS), maltooligosyl trehalose trehalohydrolase (MTH) and TRET1 secreted 97% of trehalose to the medium, and the titer was up to 2.7 g/L in 15 days. In addition, 5.7 g/L trehalose was produced by semi-continuous cultivation in 34 days. Taken together, this work demonstrates cyanobacteria can be applied as cell factories for direct sunlight-driven conversion of CO₂ into excreted trehalose.     

Unlocking the biosynthesis of sesquiterpenoids from methane via the methylerythritol phosphate pathway in methanotrophic bacteria,using α-humulene as a model compound

Isoprenoids are an abundant and diverse class of natural products with various applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and biofuel industries. A methanotroph-based biorefinery is an attractive scenario for the production of a variety of value-added compounds from methane, because methane is a promising alternative feedstock for industrial biomanufacturing. In this study, we metabolically engineered Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z for de novo synthesis of a sesquiterpenoid from methane, using α-humulene as a model compound, via optimization of the native methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway. Expression of codon-optimized α-humulene synthase from Zingiber zerumbet in M. alcaliphilum 20Z resulted in an initial yield of 0.04 mg/g dry cell weight. Overexpressing key enzymes (IspA, IspG, and Dxs) for debottlenecking of the MEP pathway increased α-humulene production 5.2-fold compared with the initial strain. Subsequently, redirecting the carbon flux through the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway resulted in an additional 3-fold increase in α-humulene production. Additionally, a genome-scale model using flux scanning based on enforced objective flux method was used to identify potential overexpression targets to increase flux towards isoprenoid production. Several target reactions from cofactor synthesis pathways were probed and evaluated for their effects on α-humulene synthesis, resulting in α-humulene yield up to 0.75 mg/g DCW with 18.8-fold enhancement from initial yield. This study first demonstrates production of a sesquiterpenoid from methane using methanotrophs as the biocatalyst and proposes potential strategies to enhance production of sesquiterpenoid and related isoprenoid products in engineered methanotrophic bacteria.     

Harnessing yeast subcellular compartments for the production of plant terpenoids

The biologically and commercially important terpenoids are a large and diverse class of natural products that are targets of metabolic engineering. However, in the context of metabolic engineering, the otherwise well-documented spatial subcellular arrangement of metabolic enzyme complexes has been largely overlooked. To boost production of plant sesquiterpenes in yeast, we enhanced flux in the mevalonic acid pathway toward farnesyl diphosphate (FDP) accumulation, and evaluated the possibility of harnessing the mitochondria as an alternative to the cytosol for metabolic engineering. Overall, we achieved 8- and 20-fold improvement in the production of valencene and amorphadiene, respectively, in yeast co-engineered with a truncated and deregulated HMG1, mitochondrion-targeted heterologous FDP synthase and a mitochondrion-targeted sesquiterpene synthase, i.e. valencene or amorphadiene synthase. The prospect of harnessing different subcellular compartments opens new and intriguing possibilities for the metabolic engineering of pathways leading to valuable natural compounds.     

Biosynthesis of isoprene in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> via methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway

Isoprene is an aviation fuel of high quality and an important polymer building block in the synthetic chemistry industry. In light of high oil prices, sustained availability, and environmental concerns, isoprene from renewable materials is contemplated as a substitute for petroleum-based product. Escherichia coli with advantages over other wild microorganisms, is considered as a powerful host for biofuels and chemicals. Here, we constructed a synthetic pathway of isoprene in E. coli by introducing an isoprene synthase (ispS) gene from Populus nigra, which catalyzes the conversion of dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) to isoprene. To improve the isoprene production, we overexpressed the native 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate (DXP) synthase gene (dxs) and DXP reductoisomerase gene (dxr) in E. coli, which catalyzed the first step and the second step of MEP pathway, respectively. The fed-batch fermentation results showed that overexpression of DXS is helpful for the improvement of isoprene production. Surprisingly, heterologous expression of dxs and dxr from Bacillus subtilis in the E. coli expressing ispS resulted in a 2.3-fold enhancement of isoprene production (from 94 to 314 mg/L). The promising results showed that dxs and dxr from B. subtilis functioned more efficiently on the enhancement of isoprene production than native ones. This could be caused by the consequence of great difference in protein structures of the two original DXSs. It could be practical to produce isoprene in E. coli via MEP pathway through metabolic engineering. This work provides an alternative way for production of isoprene by engineered E. coli via MEP pathway through metabolic engineering.     

Genetically engineering cyanobacteria to convert CO2, water,and light into the long-chain hydrocarbon farnesene

Genetically engineered cyanobacteria offer a shortcut to convert CO₂ and H₂O directly into biofuels and high value chemicals for societal benefits. Farnesene, a long-chained hydrocarbon (C₁₅H₂₄), has many applications in lubricants, cosmetics, fragrances, and biofuels. However, a method for the sustainable, photosynthetic production of farnesene has been lacking. Here, we report the photosynthetic production of farnesene by the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 using only CO₂, mineralized water, and light. A codon-optimized farnesene synthase gene was chemically synthesized and then expressed in the cyanobacterium, enabling it to synthesize farnesene through its endogenous non-mevalonate (MEP) pathway. Farnesene excreted from the engineered cyanobacterium volatilized into the flask head space and was recovered by adsorption in a resin column. The maximum photosynthetic productivity of farnesene was 69.1?±?1.8 μg·L^?1·O.D.^?1·d^?1. Compared to the wild type, the farnesene-producing cyanobacterium also exhibited a 60 % higher PSII activity under high light, suggesting increased farnesene productivity in such conditions. We envision genetically engineered cyanobacteria as a bio-solar factory for photosynthetic production of a wide range of biofuels and commodity chemicals.     

ENHANCEMENT OF RUTIN PRODUCTION IN Fagopyrum tataricum HAIRY ROOT CULTURES WITH ITS ENDOPHYTIC FUNGAL ELICITORS

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is a potentially important source of rutin, a natural bioactive flavonoid with antihyperglycemic, antioxidative, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory properties. This study examines the effects of endophytic fungi on rutin production in the hairy root cultures of F. tataricum. Without obvious changes in the appearance of the hairy roots, the exogenous fungal mycelia elicitors efficiently stimulated the hairy root growth and rutin biosynthesis, and the stimulation effect was mainly dependent on the mycelia elicitor species, as well as its treatment dose. Two endophytic fungal isolates Fat9 (Fusarium oxysporum) and Fat15 (Alternaria sp.) were screened as promising candidates for promoting F. tataricum hairy root growth and rutin production. With application of polysaccharide (PS) of endophyte Fat9 (200 mg/L), and PS of endophyte Fat15 (100 mg/L) to the hairy root cultures on day 25, the rutin yield was increased to 45.9 mg/L and 47.2 mg/L, respectively. That was about 3.1- to 3.2-fold in comparison with the control level of 14.6 mg/L. Moreover, the present study revealed that the accumulation of rutin resulted from the stimulation of the phenylpropanoid pathway by mycelia PS treatments. This may be an efficient strategy for enhancing rutin production in F. tataricum hairy root culture provided with its endophytic mycelia elicitors.     

蓝细菌细胞工厂合成聚合物单体的研究进展

蓝细菌是当前合成生物学研究的热门底盘生物之一,是光合自养底盘微生物的典型代表。随着化石资源的逐渐枯竭和碳排放所导致的全球变暖问题的加剧,以CO2为碳源的蓝细菌细胞工厂的研究又迎来了一次新的浪潮。长期以来,人们对于蓝细菌细胞工厂的关注点主要是在生物能源的生产,比如液体燃料及氢气等。蓝细菌细胞工厂研究的主要瓶颈之一是其低效率导致的经济性问题。这一问题对于成本异常敏感的能源产品而言尤其突出。聚合物作为人类生产生活的重要基础,属于附加值较大的大宗化学品,对克服蓝细菌细胞工厂商业化所面临的经济性问题具有优势,近来得到了越来越多的关注。本文对蓝细菌的聚合物单体生产的相关研究进行了系统综述,阐述了各类单体的增产策略,并回顾了蓝细菌细胞工厂应用的相关技术,提出了蓝细菌合成生物学的应用领域所存在的问题并对未来的研究进行了展望。     

Tailored biosynthesis of gibberellin plant hormones in yeast

The application of small amounts of natural plant growth hormones, such as gibberellins (GAs), can increase the productivity and quality of many vegetable and fruit crops. However, gibberellin growth hormones usage is limited by the high cost of their production, which is currently based on fermentation of a natural fungal producer Fusarium fujikuroi that produces a mix of several GAs. We explored the potential of the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica to produce specific profiles of GAs. Firstly, the production of the GA-precursor ent-kaurenoic acid (KA) at 3.75 mg/L was achieved by expression of biosynthetic enzymes from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana and upregulation of the mevalonate (MVA) pathway.We then built a GA₄-producing strain by extending the GA-biosynthetic pathway and upregulating the MVA-pathway further, resulting in 17.29 mg/L GA₄. Additional expression of the F. fujikoroi GA-biosynthetic enzymes resulted in the production of GA₇ (trace amounts) and GA₃ (2.93 mg/L). Lastly, through protein engineering and the expression of additional KA-biosynthetic genes, we increased the GA₃-production 4.4-fold resulting in 12.81 mg/L. The developed system presents a promising resource for the recombinant production of specific gibberellins, identifying bottlenecks in GA biosynthesis, and discovering new GA biosynthetic genes.ClassificationBiological Sciences, Applied Biological Sciences.     

Engineering <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus subtilis</Emphasis> for isobutanol production by heterologous Ehrlich pathway construction and the biosynthetic 2-ketoisovalerate precursor pathway overexpression

In the present work, Bacillus subtilis was engineered as the cell factory for isobutanol production due to its high tolerance to isobutanol. Initially, an efficient heterologous Ehrlich pathway controlled by the promoter P₄₃ was introduced into B. subtilis for the isobutanol biosynthesis. Further, investigation of acetolactate synthase of B. subtilis, ketol-acid reductoisomerase, and dihydroxy-acid dehydratase of Corynebacterium glutamicum responsible for 2-ketoisovalerate precursor biosynthesis showed that acetolactate synthase played an important role in isobutanol biosynthesis. The overexpression of acetolactate synthase led to a 2.8-fold isobutanol production compared with the control. Apart from isobutanol, alcoholic profile analysis also confirmed the existence of 1.21 g/L ethanol, 1.06 g/L 2-phenylethanol, as well as traces of 2-methyl-1-butanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol in the fermentation broth. Under microaerobic condition, the engineered B. subtilis produced up to 2.62 g/L isobutanol in shake-flask fed-batch fermentation, which was 21.3% higher than that in batch fermentation.     

Combination of microbial and chemical synthesis for the sustainable production of β-elemene,a promising plant-extracted anticancer compound

Beta-elemene, a class of sesquiterpene derived from the Chinese medicinal herb Curcuma wenyujin, is widely used in clinical medicine due to its broad-spectrum antitumor activity. However, the unsustainable plant extraction prompted the search for environmentally friendly strategies for β-elemene production. In this study, we designed a Yarrowia lipolytica cell factory that can continuously produce germacrene A, which is further converted into β-elemene with 100% yield through a Cope rearrangement reaction by shifting the temperature to 250°C. First, the productivity of four plant-derived germacrene A synthases was evaluated. After that, the metabolic flux of the precursor to germacrene A was maximized by optimizing the endogenous mevalonate pathway, inhibiting the competing squalene pathway, and expressing germacrene A synthase gene in multiple copies. Finally, the most promising strain achieved the highest β-elemene titer reported to date with 5.08 g/L. This sustainable and green method has the potential for industrial β-elemene production.     

Synthesis of cinnabarinic acid by metabolically engineered Pseudomonas chlororaphis GP72

Cinnabarinic acid is a valuable phenoxazinone that has broad applications in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and dyeing industries. However, few studies have investigated the production of cinnabarinic acid or its derivatives using genetically engineered microorganisms. Herein, an efficient synthetic pathway of cinnabarinic acid was designed and constructed in Pseudomonas chlororaphis GP72 for the first tim, which was more straightforward and robust than the known eukaryotic biosynthetic pathways. First, we screened and identified trans-2,3-dihydro-3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (DHHA) dehydrogenases from Escherichia coli MG1655 (encoded by entA), Streptomyces sp. NRRL12068 (encoded by bomO) and Streptomyces chartreusis NRRL3882 (encoded by calB₃) based on the structural similarity of the substrate and product, and the DHHA dehydrogenase encoded by calB₃ was selected for the synthesis of cinnabarinic acid due to its high DHHA conversion rate. Subsequently, cinnabarinic acid was synthesized by the expression of the DHHA dehydrogenase CalB₃ and the phenoxazinone synthase CotA in the DHHA-producing strain P. chlororaphis GP72, resulting in a cinnabarinic acid titer of 20.3 mg/L at 48 hr. Further fermentation optimization by the addition of Cu²⁺, H₂O₂, and with adding glycerol increased cinnabarinic acid titer to 136.2 mg/L in shake flasks. The results indicate that P. chlororaphis GP72 may be engineered as a microbial cell factory to produce cinnabarinic acid or its derivatives from renewable bioresources.     

Isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP)-bypass mevalonate pathways for isopentenol production

Branched C₅ alcohols are promising biofuels with favorable combustion properties. A mevalonate (MVA)-based isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway for C₅ alcohols was constructed in Escherichia coli using genes from several organisms, and the pathway was optimized to achieve over 50% theoretical yield. Although the MVA pathway is energetically less efficient than the native methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway, implementing the MVA pathway in bacterial hosts such as E. coli is advantageous due to its lack of endogenous regulation. The MVA and MEP pathways intersect at isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP), the direct precursor to isoprenoid-derived C₅ alcohols and initial precursor to longer chain terpenes, which makes independent regulation of the pathways difficult. In pursuit of the complete “decoupling” of the MVA pathway from native cellular regulation, we designed novel IPP-bypass MVA pathways for C₅ alcohol production by utilizing promiscuous activities of two enzymes, phosphomevalonate decarboxylase (PMD) and an E. coli-endogenous phosphatase (AphA). These bypass pathways have reduced energetic requirements, are further decoupled from intrinsic regulation, and are free from IPP-related toxicity. In addition to these benefits, we demonstrate that reduced aeration rate has less impact on the bypass pathway than the original MVA pathway. Finally, we showed that performance of the bypass pathway was primarily determined by the activity of PMD. We designed PMD mutants with improved activity and demonstrated titer increases in the mutant strains. These modified pathways would be a good platform for industrial production of isopentenol and related chemicals such as isoprene.