Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of terpene mixture enriched in caryophyllene and caryophyllene alcohol as potential aviation fuel compounds

• Published in: Metabolic engineering communications Vol. 6; pp. 13 - 21
• Main Authors: Wu, Weihua, Liu, Fang, Davis, Ryan W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.06.2018; Elsevier
• Subjects: 09 BIOMASS FUELS; 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; alcohols; aviation; biomass; Bioproduct; carbon; Caryolan-1-ol; Caryolan-1-ol synthase; Caryophyllene; Caryophyllene synthase; Escherichia coli; fermentation; heterologous gene expression; hydrolysates; Mevalonate pathway; microalgae; sesquiterpenoids; solvents; stereoisomers; transportation; Caryolan-1-ol; Caryophyllene; Caryolan-1-ol synthase; Caryophyllene synthase; Mevalonate pathway; Bioproduct
• ISSN: 2214-0301; 2214-0301
• DOI: 10.1016/j.meteno.2018.01.001

Recent studies have revealed that caryophyllene and its stereoisomers not only exhibit multiple biological activities but also have desired properties as renewable candidates for ground transportation and jet fuel applications. This study presents the first significant production of caryophyllene and caryolan-1-ol by an engineered E. coli with heterologous expression of mevalonate pathway genes with a caryophyllene synthase and a caryolan-1-ol synthase. By optimizing metabolic flux and fermentation parameters, the engineered strains yielded 449mg/L of total terpene, including 406mg/L sesquiterpene with 100mg/L caryophyllene and 10mg/L caryolan-1-ol. Furthermore, a marine microalgae hydrolysate was used as the sole carbon source for the production of caryophyllene and other terpene compounds. Under the optimal fermentation conditions, 360mg/L of total terpene, 322mg/L of sesquiterpene, and 75mg/L caryophyllene were obtained from the pretreated algae hydrolysates. The highest yields achieved on the biomass basis were 48mg total terpene/g algae and 10mg caryophyllene/g algae and the caryophyllene yield is approximately ten times higher than that from plant tissues by solvent extraction. The study provides a sustainable alternative for production of caryophyllene and its alcohol from microalgae biomass as potential candidates for next generation aviation fuels. •E. coli was engineered to yield terpene enriched in caryophyllene and caryolan-1-ol.•Yields were improved through metabolic flux and culture parameters optimization.•Algae hydrolysate was converted to terpene at high yields using engineered strains.