Utilizing a tyrosine exporter to facilitate 4-hydroxystyrene biosynthesis in an E. coli-E. coli co-culture

TY - JOUR

T1 - Utilizing a tyrosine exporter to facilitate 4-hydroxystyrene biosynthesis in an E. coli-E. coli co-culture

AU - Gargatte, Sweta

AU - Li, Zhenghong

AU - Zhou, Yiyao

AU - Wang, Xiaonan

AU - Zhuang, Lei

AU - Zhang, Haoran

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2021/12

Y1 - 2021/12

N2 - 4-hydroxystyrene is an important commodity chemical with recognized industrial values. In this study, 4-hydroxystyrene biosynthesis was achieved using engineered E. coli. An amino acid exporter protein PhpCAT was utilized in combination with a previously developed biosensor-assisted cell selection mechanism to strengthen the biosynthesis of the pathway intermediate tyrosine. When incorporated into an E. coli-E. coli co-culture, the exporter also improved tyrosine's mass transfer between the co-culture members to facilitate the streamlined 4-hydroxystyrene bioproduction. It was shown that the resulting co-culture produced 298 mg/L 4-hydroxystyrene from 5 g/L glucose, which is 96% higher than the control co-culture without the exporter. The achieved yield of 0.06 g/g glucose, to our knowledge, is the highest among previous studies on microbial biosynthesis. Our finding demonstrates that the utilization of the exporter protein for a pathway intermediate is an effective methodology for enhancing biosynthesis performance of microbial co-cultures.

AB - 4-hydroxystyrene is an important commodity chemical with recognized industrial values. In this study, 4-hydroxystyrene biosynthesis was achieved using engineered E. coli. An amino acid exporter protein PhpCAT was utilized in combination with a previously developed biosensor-assisted cell selection mechanism to strengthen the biosynthesis of the pathway intermediate tyrosine. When incorporated into an E. coli-E. coli co-culture, the exporter also improved tyrosine's mass transfer between the co-culture members to facilitate the streamlined 4-hydroxystyrene bioproduction. It was shown that the resulting co-culture produced 298 mg/L 4-hydroxystyrene from 5 g/L glucose, which is 96% higher than the control co-culture without the exporter. The achieved yield of 0.06 g/g glucose, to our knowledge, is the highest among previous studies on microbial biosynthesis. Our finding demonstrates that the utilization of the exporter protein for a pathway intermediate is an effective methodology for enhancing biosynthesis performance of microbial co-cultures.

KW - 4-hydroxystyrene

KW - Amino acid exporter

KW - Co-culture engineering

KW - E. coli

KW - Heterologous biosynthesis

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112766727&partnerID=8YFLogxK

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U2 - 10.1016/j.bej.2021.108178

DO - 10.1016/j.bej.2021.108178

M3 - Article

SN - 1369-703X

VL - 176

JO - Biochemical Engineering Journal

JF - Biochemical Engineering Journal

M1 - 108178

ER -