A novel process for obtaining phenylpropanoic acid precursor using Escherichia coli with a constitutive expression system

• Published in: Food science and biotechnology Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 795 - 801
• Main Authors: Liang, Jing-long, Guo, Liqiong, Sun, Ping, Jiang, Binghua, Lin, Junfang, Guo, Weixiong, Wan, Hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology 01.06.2016; 한국식품과학회
• Subjects: ammonia; bioengineering; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; cosmetics; culture flasks; dietary supplements; drugs; Escherichia coli; Food Science; gene expression; human health; Nutrition; p-coumaric acid; phenylalanine; phenylpropanoids; Rhodotorula glutinis; tyrosine; 식품과학; constitutive expression; bioprocess design; phenylpropanoic acid precursor; phenylpropanoids; escherichia coli
• ISSN: 1226-7708; 2092-6456; 2092-6456
• DOI: 10.1007/s10068-016-0134-3

Phenylpropanoids are widely used in food supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics with diverse benefits to human health. Trans -cinnamic acid or p -coumaric acid is usually used as the starting precursor to produce phenylpropanoids. Synthetic bioengineering of microbial cell factories offers a sustainable and flexible alternative method for obtaining these compounds. In this study, a constitutive expression system consisting of Rhodotorula glutinis phenylalanine/tyrosine ammonia lyase was developed to produce a phenylpropanoic acid precursor in Escherichia coli . To improve trans -cinnamic acid and p -coumaric acid production, BioBrick optimization was investigated, causing a 7.2- and 14.2-fold increase in the yield of these compounds, respectively. The optimum strain was capable of de novo producing 78.81 mg/L of trans -cinnamic acid and 34.67 mg/L of p -coumaric acid in a shake flask culture. The work presented here paves the way for the development of a sustainable and economical process for microbial production of a phenylpropanoic acid precursor.