TY - GEN
T1 - Styrene biosynthesis from glucose by engineered E. coli
AU - McKenna, Rebekah
AU - Nielsen, David
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Styrene is a large volume, commodity petrochemical with diverse commercial applications, including as a monomer building-block for the synthesis of many use ful polymers. Here we demonstrate how, through the de novo design and development of a novel metabolic pathway, styrene can alternatively be synthesized from renewable substrates such as glucose. The conversion of endogenously synthesized L-phenylalanine to styrene was achieved by the co-expression of phenylalanine ammonia lyase and trans-cinnamate decarboxylase. Candidate isoenzymes for each step were screened from bacterial, yeast,and plant genetic sources. Finally, over-expression of PAL2 from Arabidopsis thaliana and FDC1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (originally classified as ferulate decarboxylase) in an L-phenylalanine over-producing Escherichia coli host led to the accumulationof up to 260 mg/L in shake flask cultures. Achievable titers already approach the styrene toxicity threshold (determinedas ∼300 mg/L).To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of microbial styrene production from sustainable feedstocks.
AB - Styrene is a large volume, commodity petrochemical with diverse commercial applications, including as a monomer building-block for the synthesis of many use ful polymers. Here we demonstrate how, through the de novo design and development of a novel metabolic pathway, styrene can alternatively be synthesized from renewable substrates such as glucose. The conversion of endogenously synthesized L-phenylalanine to styrene was achieved by the co-expression of phenylalanine ammonia lyase and trans-cinnamate decarboxylase. Candidate isoenzymes for each step were screened from bacterial, yeast,and plant genetic sources. Finally, over-expression of PAL2 from Arabidopsis thaliana and FDC1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (originally classified as ferulate decarboxylase) in an L-phenylalanine over-producing Escherichia coli host led to the accumulationof up to 260 mg/L in shake flask cultures. Achievable titers already approach the styrene toxicity threshold (determinedas ∼300 mg/L).To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of microbial styrene production from sustainable feedstocks.
KW - Aromatic
KW - Cinnamic acid
KW - E. coli
KW - L-Phenylalanine
KW - Phenylalanine ammonia lyase
KW - Styrene
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84856738216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84856738216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84856738216
SN - 9780816910700
T3 - AIChE Annual Meeting, Conference Proceedings
BT - 11AIChE - 2011 AIChE Annual Meeting, Conference Proceedings
T2 - 2011 AIChE Annual Meeting, 11AIChE
Y2 - 16 October 2011 through 21 October 2011
ER -