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Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia coli for Production of 2-phenylethanol from Renewable Glucose

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Abstract

2-Phenylethanol (2-PE) is an important aromatic alcohol with a rose-like odor and has wide applications. The present work aims to construct a synthetic pathway for 2-PE synthesis from glucose in Escherichia coli. First, the genes adh1 (encoding alcohol dehydrogenase) and kdc (encoding phenylpyruvate decarboxylase) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae S288c and Pichia pastoris GS115 were investigated in E. coli, respectively, and single overexpression of adh1 or kdc significantly increased 2-PE accumulation. When co-overexpressing adh1 and kdc, 2-PE was increased up to 130 from 57 mg/L. Furthermore, by optimizing coordinated expression of the four committed genes aroF, pheA, adh1 and kdc, 2-PE was improved to 285 mg/L which was the highest production of 2-PE by the recombinant E. coli system. In addition, our results also demonstrated that the tyrB gene, which encodes aromatic-amino-acid transaminase, plays an important role on 2-PE synthesis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program, 2014CB745103, 2013CB733602), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31200020), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2012AA021201), the National Science Foundation for Post-doctoral Scientists of China (2013 M540414), the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (1301010B), the 111 Project and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Synergetic Innovation Center of Food Safety and Nutrition, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Zhen Kang, Guocheng Du & Jian Chen

  2. The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Zhen Kang & Chuanzhi Zhang

  3. School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Zhen Kang, Chuanzhi Zhang, Guocheng Du & Jian Chen

  4. National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Jian Chen

  5. The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Guocheng Du

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  1. Zhen Kang
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Correspondence to Zhen Kang.

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Kang, Z., Zhang, C., Du, G. et al. Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia coli for Production of 2-phenylethanol from Renewable Glucose. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 172, 2012–2021 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-013-0659-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-013-0659-3

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