(424a) Extending the Degradation of Charged Amino Acids for CoA-Free Synthesis of Short-Chain (C3-C5) Diols Using Promiscuous Carboxylic Acid Reductase | AIChE

(424a) Extending the Degradation of Charged Amino Acids for CoA-Free Synthesis of Short-Chain (C3-C5) Diols Using Promiscuous Carboxylic Acid Reductase

Authors 

Li, C. - Presenter, University of Georgia
Wang, J., University of Georgia
Yan, Y., University of Georgia
Microbial metabolism has been extensively studied and engineered for synthesizing valuable compounds ranging from natural products to bulk commodities. However, many industrially important compounds still cannot be efficiently produced by microbial cell factories. Expanding the pathway repertoire can add new information to the pathway network and compensate the natural microbial metabolism. Here, a novel metabolic platform was established, which is capable of producing industrially important C3-C5 diols, namely 1,3-propanediol (C3), 1,4-butanediol (C4) and 1,5-pentanediol (C5), from charged amino acids through CoA-free steps. Endogenous degradation pathway of charged amino acids were extended to produce corresponding ω-hydroxylic acids, which were then reduced to form C3-C5 diols by a promiscuous carboxylic acid reductase. The generality and potential of this platform was further demonstrated by converting seven different amino acids to C3-C5 diols. To explore the industrial feasibility of the platform, we engineered the de novo production of 1,4-butanediol and demonstrated the first de novo synthesis of 1,5-pentanediol. Our work showed the great potential of extending charged amino acids degradation for biosynthesis of short chain diols and contributed new knowledge to current pathway networks.