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Enhanced synthesis of 3-hydroxypropionic acid by eliminating by-products using recombinant Escherichia coli as a whole cell biocatalyst

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Abstract

3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) is a valuable platform chemical with high demand in the global market. Owing to its sustainability and environmental affability, the biosynthesis of 3-HP has gained a great deal of attention. The major challenges in biological production of 3-HP is by-product accumulation which significantly affects the titre and yield of 3-HP. In this work, efforts have been made to investigate the metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli to circumvent these constraints. From the mRNA expression studies, it was found that yqhD, poxB, and pta-ackA were the primary targets. The deletion of genes showed significant changes in the synthesis of 3-HP and other major metabolites such as propanediol and acetate. The deletion of yqhD significantly decreased the synthesis of propanediol and diverted the carbon flux towards 3-HP. Furthermore, the combined deletion of poxB and pta-ackA significantly showed the reduction of acetate concentration. The enhancement of 3-HP production has been attained by the combinatorial deletion of yqhD, poxB, and pta-ackA resulted the titre (440 mM vs. 556 mM) and yield (0.31 vs. 0.40). The present work could be an effective tool for the enhanced production of 3-HP with the reduced level of by-product accumulation.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr.Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, 600062, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

    Sai Nandhini Ravi & Mugesh Sankaranarayanan

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  1. Sai Nandhini Ravi
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  2. Mugesh Sankaranarayanan
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Contributions

First Author: Sai Nandhini Ravi: Conceived, conceptualized, Investigations and writing of original draft, Sample preparations. Mugesh Sankaranarayanan: Reviewed, editing and critically analysed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mugesh Sankaranarayanan.

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Ravi, S.N., Sankaranarayanan, M. Enhanced synthesis of 3-hydroxypropionic acid by eliminating by-products using recombinant Escherichia coli as a whole cell biocatalyst. Top Catal 67, 169–180 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11244-023-01796-6

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