Developing a pyruvate-driven metabolic scenario for growth-coupled microbial production.

Area of Science:

• Microbial biotechnology
• Synthetic biology
• Metabolic engineering

Background:

• Sustainable chemical synthesis relies on microbial production, but metabolic burden and genetic instability limit efficiency.
• Coupling product synthesis with cellular growth is a key strategy to overcome these limitations in biomanufacturing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a growth-coupled bioproduction system in engineered Escherichia coli.
• To enhance the production of anthranilate and its derivatives using a pyruvate-driven metabolic scenario.

Main Methods:

• Engineered Escherichia coli with deleted endogenous pyruvate-releasing pathways to create an anthranilate synthesis salvage route.
• Implemented a pyruvate-driven metabolic scenario for growth-coupled bioproduction.
• Introduced downstream pathways for enhanced production of anthranilate derivatives.

Main Results:

• Anthranilate synthesis was coupled to cell growth, making production essential for survival.
• Demonstrated boosted production of anthranilate and its derivatives, including L-tryptophan and cis, cis-muconic acid.
• Achieved production from diverse carbon sources.

Conclusions:

• Presented a novel, feasible growth-coupled strategy for microbial production.
• The developed system effectively promotes the biomanufacturing of anthranilate and related high-value products.
• This approach offers a promising avenue for economically viable and sustainable bioproduction.