Systems
metabolic engineers defined a novel strategy for microbial aromatic polyesters
production fused with synthetic biology from renewable biomass. The team
produced aromatic polyesters from Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains by
applying microbial fermentation, employing direct microbial fermentation from
renewable feedstock carbohydrates.
This
is the first report to determine a platform strain of engineered E. coli
capable of producing environmentally friendly aromatic polyesters. This engineered
E. coli strain, if desired, has the potential to be used as a platform strain
capable of producing various high-valued aromatic polyesters from renewable
biomass. This research was published in Nature Communications on January 8.
Conventionally,
aromatic polyesters boast solid strength and heat stability so that there has
been a great deal of interest in fermentative production of aromatic polyesters
from renewable non-food biomass, but without success.
However,
aromatic polyesters are only made by feeding the cells with corresponding
aromatic monomers as substrates, and have not been produced by direct
fermentation from renewable feedstock carbohydrates such as glucose.
To
address this issue, the team prescribed the detailed procedure for aromatic polyester
production through identifying CoA-transferase that activates phenylalkanoates
into their corresponding CoA derivatives. In this process, researchers employed
metabolic engineering of E. coli to produce phenylalkanoates from glucose based
on genome-scale metabolic flux analysis. In particular, the KAIST team made a
modulation of gene expression to produce various aromatic polyesters having
different monomer fractions.
The
research team successfully produced aromatic polyesters, a non-natural polymer
using the strategy that combines systems metabolic engineering and synthetic
biology. They succeeded in biosynthesis of various kinds of aromatic polyesters
through the system, thus proving the technical excellence of the
environmentally friendly biosynthetic system of this research. Furthermore, his
team also proved the potential of expanding the range of aromatic polyesters
from renewable resources, which is expected to play an important role in the
bio-plastic industry.
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