Abstract
Muconic acid is a promising platform biochemical and precursor to adipic acid, which can be used to synthesize various plastics and polymers. In this study, the systematic construction and comparative evaluation of a modular network of non-natural pathways for muconic acid biosynthesis was investigated in Escherichia coli, including via three distinct and novel pathways proceeding via phenol as a common intermediate. However, poor recombinant activity and high promiscuity of phenol hydroxylase ultimately limited "phenol-dependent" muconic acid production. A fourth pathway proceeding via p-hydroxybenzoate, protocatechuate, and catechol was accordingly developed, though with muconic acid titers by this route reaching just 819 mg/L, its performance lagged behind that of the established, "3-dehydroshikimiate-derived" route. Finally, these two most promising pathways were coexpressed in parallel to create a synthetic "metabolic funnel" that, by enabling maximal net precursor assimilation and flux while preserving native chorismate biosynthesis, nearly doubled muconic acid production to up to >3.1 g/L at a glucose yield of 158 mg/g while introducing only a single auxotrophy. This generalizable, "funneling" strategy is expected to have broad applications in metabolic engineering for further enhancing production of muconic acid, as well as other important bioproducts of interest.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 565-575 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | ACS Synthetic Biology |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 16 2018 |
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Keywords
- catechol
- metabolic funnel
- muconic acid
- phenol
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biomedical Engineering
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)
Cite this
Muconic Acid Production via Alternative Pathways and a Synthetic "metabolic Funnel". / Thompson, Brian; Pugh, Shawn; Machas, Michael; Nielsen, David.
In: ACS Synthetic Biology, Vol. 7, No. 2, 16.02.2018, p. 565-575.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Muconic Acid Production via Alternative Pathways and a Synthetic "metabolic Funnel"
AU - Thompson, Brian
AU - Pugh, Shawn
AU - Machas, Michael
AU - Nielsen, David
PY - 2018/2/16
Y1 - 2018/2/16
N2 - Muconic acid is a promising platform biochemical and precursor to adipic acid, which can be used to synthesize various plastics and polymers. In this study, the systematic construction and comparative evaluation of a modular network of non-natural pathways for muconic acid biosynthesis was investigated in Escherichia coli, including via three distinct and novel pathways proceeding via phenol as a common intermediate. However, poor recombinant activity and high promiscuity of phenol hydroxylase ultimately limited "phenol-dependent" muconic acid production. A fourth pathway proceeding via p-hydroxybenzoate, protocatechuate, and catechol was accordingly developed, though with muconic acid titers by this route reaching just 819 mg/L, its performance lagged behind that of the established, "3-dehydroshikimiate-derived" route. Finally, these two most promising pathways were coexpressed in parallel to create a synthetic "metabolic funnel" that, by enabling maximal net precursor assimilation and flux while preserving native chorismate biosynthesis, nearly doubled muconic acid production to up to >3.1 g/L at a glucose yield of 158 mg/g while introducing only a single auxotrophy. This generalizable, "funneling" strategy is expected to have broad applications in metabolic engineering for further enhancing production of muconic acid, as well as other important bioproducts of interest.
AB - Muconic acid is a promising platform biochemical and precursor to adipic acid, which can be used to synthesize various plastics and polymers. In this study, the systematic construction and comparative evaluation of a modular network of non-natural pathways for muconic acid biosynthesis was investigated in Escherichia coli, including via three distinct and novel pathways proceeding via phenol as a common intermediate. However, poor recombinant activity and high promiscuity of phenol hydroxylase ultimately limited "phenol-dependent" muconic acid production. A fourth pathway proceeding via p-hydroxybenzoate, protocatechuate, and catechol was accordingly developed, though with muconic acid titers by this route reaching just 819 mg/L, its performance lagged behind that of the established, "3-dehydroshikimiate-derived" route. Finally, these two most promising pathways were coexpressed in parallel to create a synthetic "metabolic funnel" that, by enabling maximal net precursor assimilation and flux while preserving native chorismate biosynthesis, nearly doubled muconic acid production to up to >3.1 g/L at a glucose yield of 158 mg/g while introducing only a single auxotrophy. This generalizable, "funneling" strategy is expected to have broad applications in metabolic engineering for further enhancing production of muconic acid, as well as other important bioproducts of interest.
KW - catechol
KW - metabolic funnel
KW - muconic acid
KW - phenol
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042191108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85042191108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acssynbio.7b00331
DO - 10.1021/acssynbio.7b00331
M3 - Article
C2 - 29053259
AN - SCOPUS:85042191108
VL - 7
SP - 565
EP - 575
JO - ACS Synthetic Biology
JF - ACS Synthetic Biology
SN - 2161-5063
IS - 2
ER -