Production of d-Glyceric acid from d-Galacturonate in Escherichia coli

Abstract

A microbial production platform has been developed in Escherichia coli to synthesize d-glyceric acid from d-galacturonate. The expression of uronate dehydrogenase (udh) from Pseudomonas syringae and galactarolactone isomerase (gli) from Agrobacterium fabrum, along with the inactivation of garK, encoding for glycerate kinase, enables d-glyceric acid accumulation by utilizing the endogenous expression of galactarate dehydratase (garD), 5-keto-4-deoxy-D-glucarate aldolase (garL), and 2-hydroxy-3-oxopropionate reductase (garR). Optimization of carbon flux through the elimination of competing metabolic pathways led to the development of a ΔgarKΔhyiΔglxKΔuxaC mutant strain that produced 4.8 g/l of d-glyceric acid from d-galacturonate, with an 83% molar yield. Cultivation in a minimal medium produced similar yields and demonstrated that galactose or glycerol serve as possible carbon co-feeds for industrial production. This novel platform represents an alternative for the production of d-glyceric acid, an industrially relevant chemical, that addresses current challenges in using acetic acid bacteria for its synthesis: increasing yield, enantio-purity and biological stability.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2020
Source ID
10.1007/s10295-020-02323-2

Entities

People

  • Kevin J Fox
  • Kristala L. J. Prather

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Microbial Pathology
  • Molecular Genetics

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology