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Updated: May 20, 2026

Biosynthesis of a Flavonol from a Flavanone by Establishing a One-pot Bienzymatic Cascade
Published on: August 14, 2019
Construction of a Novel Vanillin-Induced Autoregulating Bidirectional Transport System in a Vanillin-Producing E.
Zhen Li1,2, Lina Sun1,3, Yulu Wang1,2
1Laboratory of Biomanufacturing and Food Engineering, Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China.
Abstract:
Vanillin is one of the world's most extensively used flavoring agents with high application value. However, the yield of vanillin biosynthesis remains limited due to the low efficiency of substrate uptake and the inhibitory effect on cell growth caused by vanillin. Here, we screened high-efficiency ferulic acid importer TodX and vanillin exporters PP_0178 and PP_0179 by overexpressing genes encoding candidate transporters in a vanillin-producing engineered Escherichia coli strain VA and further constructed an autoregulatory bidirectional transport system by coexpressing TodX and PP_0178/PP_0179 with a vanillin self-inducible promoter ADH7. Compared with strain VA, strain VA-TodX-PP_0179 can efficiently transport ferulic acid across the cell membrane and convert it to vanillin, which significantly increases the substrate utilization rate efficiency (14.86%) and vanillin titer (51.07%). This study demonstrated that the autoregulatory bidirectional transport system significantly enhances the substrate uptake efficiency while alleviating the vanillin toxicity issue, providing a promising viable route for vanillin biosynthesis.
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