| Abstract: | Ferulic acid is a renewable chemical found in lignocellulose from grasses such as wheat straw and sugarcane. Pseudomonas putida is able to liberate and metabolize ferulic acid from plant biomass. Deletion of the hydroxycinnamoyl‐CoA hydratase‐lyase gene (ech) produced a strain of P. putida unable to utilize ferulic and p‐coumaric acid, which is able to accumulate ferulic acid and p‐coumaric acid from wheat straw or sugar cane bagasse. Further engineering of this strain saw the replacement of ech with the phenolic acid decarboxylase padC, which converts p‐coumaric and ferulic acid into 4‐vinylphenol and the flavor agent 4‐vinylguaiacol, respectively. The engineered strain containing padC is able to generate 4‐vinylguaiacol and 4‐vinylphenol from media containing lignocellulose or Green Value Protobind lignin as feedstock, and does not require the addition of an exogenous inducer molecule. Biopolymerization of 4‐vinylguaiacol and 4‐vinylcatechol styrene products is also carried out, using Trametes versicolor laccase, to generate “biopolystyrene” materials on small scale. |
