Engineering Escherichia coli to convert acetic acid to free fatty acids

•Overexpress acetate utilization and fatty acids biosynthesis pathways in Escherichia coli.•Optimize cultivation of engineered strain for fatty acids production using acetate.•Investigate acetate metabolism for biosynthesis in the engineered strain via 13C labeling.•Produce fatty acids using acetate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biochemical engineering journal 2013-07, Vol.76, p.60-69
Main Authors: Xiao, Yi, Ruan, Zhenhua, Liu, Zhiguo, Wu, Stephen G., Varman, Arul M., Liu, Yan, Tang, Yinjie J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
13C
acetic acid
acid hydrolysis
acs gene
Anaerobic-digested
biofuels
Biological and medical sciences
biomass
biosynthesis
Biotechnology
carbon
Carbon flux
Escherichia coli
fatty acids
free fatty acids
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
gene overexpression
genes
genetic engineering
lignocellulose
Lignocellulosic biomass
sewage sludge
tricarboxylic acid cycle
waste treatment
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Summary:•Overexpress acetate utilization and fatty acids biosynthesis pathways in Escherichia coli.•Optimize cultivation of engineered strain for fatty acids production using acetate.•Investigate acetate metabolism for biosynthesis in the engineered strain via 13C labeling.•Produce fatty acids using acetate from lignocellulosic hydrolysate or anaerobic digestion. Fatty acids (FAs) are promising precursors of advanced biofuels. This study investigated conversion of acetic acid (HAc) to FAs by an engineered Escherichia coli strain. We combined established genetic engineering strategies including overexpression of acs and tesA genes, and knockout of fadE in E. coli BL21, resulting in the production of ~1g/L FAs from acetic acid. The microbial conversion of HAc to FAs was achieved with ~20% of the theoretical yield. We cultured the engineered strain with HAc-rich liquid wastes, which yielded ~0.43g/L FAs using waste streams from dilute acid hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass and ~0.17g/L FAs using effluent from anaerobic-digested sewage sludge. 13C-isotopic experiments showed that the metabolism in our engineered strain had high carbon fluxes toward FAs synthesis and TCA cycle in a complex HAc medium. This proof-of-concept work demonstrates the possibility for coupling the waste treatment with the biosynthesis of advanced biofuel via genetically engineered microbial species.
ISSN:1369-703X
1873-295X
DOI:10.1016/j.bej.2013.04.013