Engineering aspartate metabolism improves β-alanine-based 3-hydroxypropionic acid production in Saccharomyces...

3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) serves as an important building block in the production of acrylic acid, acrylonitrile, and various other industrial chemicals. Although microbial production of 3-HP from lignocellulosic biomass has been explored, current systems are limited by inefficient xylose utilization and metabolic pathway bottlenecks. In this study, Saccharomyces cerevisiae was engineered to achieve high-level 3-HP production from xylose by refining the β-alanine route. A heterologous pathway comprising Tribolium castaneum aspartate decarboxylase (TcPAND), Bacillus cereus β-alanine-pyruvate aminotransferase (BcBAPAT), and Escherichia coli 3-hydroxypropanoate dehydrogenase (EcydfG) was introduced into a xylose-assimilating strain. Enhancement of 3-HP synthesis was achieved by reconfiguring both mitochondrial aspartate generation and associated intermediate amino acid pathways. Optimizing culture conditions and implementing fed-batch fermentation enabled the 3-HP concentration of 32.9 g/L, with a yield of 0.21 C-mol/C-mol xylose. Finally, 3-HP production from deacetylated hemp stalk hydrolysate was demonstrated using a separate hydrolysis and fermentation process, achieving a titer of 6.9 g/L. These results demonstrate that engineered yeast can serve as a viable platform for producing 3-HP efficiently and sustainably in biorefineries that use xylose.