Metabolic engineering for improving l-tryptophan production in Escherichia coli

• Published in: Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 55 - 65
• Main Authors: Niu, Hao, Li, Ruirui, Liang, Quanfeng, Qi, Qingsheng, Li, Qiang, Gu, Pengfei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.01.2019; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Acetates - metabolism; Amino acids; Amino Acids, Aromatic - biosynthesis; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Biochemistry; Bioinformatics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biosynthesis; Biotechnology; Business competition; Cell Culture and Bioengineering - Mini Review; E coli; Engineering; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - metabolism; Escherichia coli Proteins - genetics; Escherichia coli Proteins - metabolism; Fermentation; Food industry; Genetic Engineering; Industrial engineering; Industrial Microbiology; Inorganic Chemistry; Life Sciences; Manufacturing engineering; Metabolic Engineering; Metabolism; Microbiology; Organic chemistry; Pharmaceutical industry; Production costs; Production methods; Repressor Proteins - genetics; Repressor Proteins - metabolism; Tryptophan; Tryptophan - biosynthesis; Tryptophan; Metabolic engineering; L-Tryptophan; Escherichia coli
• ISSN: 1367-5435; 1476-5535
• DOI: 10.1007/s10295-018-2106-5

l -Tryptophan is an important aromatic amino acid that is used widely in the food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. Compared with the traditional synthetic methods, production of l -tryptophan by microbes is environmentally friendly and has low production costs, and feed stocks are renewable. With the development of metabolic engineering, highly efficient production of l -tryptophan in Escherichia coli has been achieved by eliminating negative regulation factors, improving the intracellular level of precursors, engineering of transport systems and overexpression of rate-limiting enzymes. However, challenges remain for l -tryptophan biosynthesis to be cost-competitive. In this review, successful and applicable strategies derived from metabolic engineering for increasing l -tryptophan accumulation in E. coli are summarized. In addition, perspectives for further efficient production of l -tryptophan are discussed.