Construct a synthetic Entner-Doudoroff pathway in Bacillus licheniformis for enhancing lichenysin production

Lichenysin, a cyclic lipopeptide biosurfactant produced by Bacillus licheniformis, is composed of aspartate, glutamine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, and branched chain fatty acids. The synthesis of these amino acids and fatty acids requires pyruvate and NADPH as the primary precursor and cofactor. Therefore, a sufficient supply of pyruvate and NADPH is crucial for lichenysin production. This study aimed to increase lichenysin production by constructing a synthetic ED pathway in B. licheniformis WX02 through introducing phosphogluconate dehydratase (encoded by gene edd) and 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate 6-phosphate aldolase (encoded by gene eda) from Escherichia coli. Additionally, the NADP⁺-dependent glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (encoded by gene zwf) was overexpressed, resulting in an engineered strain WX02/pHY-edda(Ec)-zwf. Analysis of the fermentation process revealed that the concentrations of pyruvate, aspartate, glutamine, valine, leucine, branched-chain fatty acids (iC15:0, aC15:0, iC16:0, iC17:0), and NADPH in WX02/pHY-edda(Ec)-zwf were increased by 77.21%, 80.41%, 85.31%, 141.64%, 44.94%, 35.08%, 38.08%, 19.33%, 21.16%, and 425%, respectively, compared to the control strain WX02/pHY300, which resulted in a 45.43% increase of lichenysin titer. This work took advantage of the ED pathway to increase lichenysin production for the first time, and provides a promising strategy for boosting the productivity of biochemicals that require pyruvate and NADPH as precursor and cofactor.