A gene cluster for fatty alcohol synthesis from a Reinekea-related bacterium that accumulates fatty alcohols

This study reports on a marine bacterium that accumulates fatty alcohols (C14,16,18 ) at more than 1% (w/w) of the dry cell weight. This unique bacterium, designated as strain 1-4, is related to the genus Reinekea. A novel gene cluster for fatty alcohol synthesis, phsAB, is identified from strain 1-4. The phsA product shows significant homology to fatty acyl-CoA reductase (51% identity), whereas the phsB product shows very low homology to lipases. Interestingly, phsA alone causes Escherichia coli to accumulate fatty alcohols at 19% (w/w) of the dry cell weight. Moreover, the phsA-containing E. coli accumulate more fatty alcohols (24%) and grow faster after phsB is introduced, indicating that phsAB could greatly assist the mass production of fatty alcohols.