Efficient production of acetoin from lactate by engineered Escherichia coli whole-cell biocatalyst

Acetoin, an important and high-value added bio-based platform chemical, has been widely applied in fields of foods, cosmetics, chemical synthesis, and agriculture. Lactate is a significant intermediate short-chain carboxylate in the anaerobic breakdown of carbohydrates that comprise ~ 18% and ~ 70% in municipal wastewaters and some food processing wastewaters, respectively. In this work, a series of engineered Escherichia coli strains were constructed for efficient production of acetoin from cheaper and abundant lactate through heterogenous co-expression of fusion protein (α-acetolactate synthetase and α-acetolactate decarboxylase), lactate dehydrogenase and NADH oxidase, and blocking acetate synthesis pathways. After optimization of whole-cell bioconversion conditions, the engineered strain BL-11 produced 251.97 mM (22.20 g/L) acetoin with a yield of 0.434 mol/mol in shake flasks. Moreover, a titer of 648.97mM (57.18 g/L) acetoin was obtained in 30 h with a yield of 0.484 mol/mol lactic acid in a 1-L bioreactor. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the production of acetoin from renewable lactate through whole-cell bioconversion with both high titer and yield, which demonstrates the economy and efficiency of acetoin production from lactate. Key Points • The lactate dehydrogenases from different organisms were expressed, purified, and assayed. • It is the first time that acetoin was produced from lactate by whole-cell biocatalysis. • The highest titer of 57.18 g/L acetoin was obtained with high theoretical yield in a 1-L bioreactor.