Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoA

Medium chain esters produced from fruits and flowering plants have a number of commercial applications including use as flavour and fragrance ingredients, biofuels, and in pharmaceutical formulations. These esters are typically made via the activity of an alcohol acyl transferase (AAT) enzyme which...

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Main Authors: Micaela G. Chacón, Emanuele G. Kendrick, David J. Leak
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2019-07-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/6971.pdf
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author Micaela G. Chacón
Emanuele G. Kendrick
David J. Leak
author_facet Micaela G. Chacón
Emanuele G. Kendrick
David J. Leak
author_sort Micaela G. Chacón
collection DOAJ
description Medium chain esters produced from fruits and flowering plants have a number of commercial applications including use as flavour and fragrance ingredients, biofuels, and in pharmaceutical formulations. These esters are typically made via the activity of an alcohol acyl transferase (AAT) enzyme which catalyses the condensation of an alcohol and an acyl-CoA. Developing a microbial platform for medium chain ester production using AAT activity presents several obstacles, including the low product specificity of these enzymes for the desired ester and/or low endogenous substrate availability. In this study, we engineered Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenously produced octanoyl-CoA. This was achieved through rational protein engineering of an AAT enzyme from Actinidia chinensis for improved octanoyl-CoA substrate specificity and metabolic engineering of E. coli fatty acid metabolism for increased endogenous octanoyl-CoA availability. This resulted in accumulation of 3.3 + 0.1 mg/L butyl octanoate as the sole product from E. coli after 48 h. This study represents a preliminary examination of the feasibility of developing E. coli platforms for the synthesis single medium chain esters from endogenous fatty acids.
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spelling doaj.art-0c51666e92a3495d84d9092789700da92023-12-03T11:05:40ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592019-07-017e697110.7717/peerj.6971Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoAMicaela G. ChacónEmanuele G. KendrickDavid J. LeakMedium chain esters produced from fruits and flowering plants have a number of commercial applications including use as flavour and fragrance ingredients, biofuels, and in pharmaceutical formulations. These esters are typically made via the activity of an alcohol acyl transferase (AAT) enzyme which catalyses the condensation of an alcohol and an acyl-CoA. Developing a microbial platform for medium chain ester production using AAT activity presents several obstacles, including the low product specificity of these enzymes for the desired ester and/or low endogenous substrate availability. In this study, we engineered Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenously produced octanoyl-CoA. This was achieved through rational protein engineering of an AAT enzyme from Actinidia chinensis for improved octanoyl-CoA substrate specificity and metabolic engineering of E. coli fatty acid metabolism for increased endogenous octanoyl-CoA availability. This resulted in accumulation of 3.3 + 0.1 mg/L butyl octanoate as the sole product from E. coli after 48 h. This study represents a preliminary examination of the feasibility of developing E. coli platforms for the synthesis single medium chain esters from endogenous fatty acids.https://peerj.com/articles/6971.pdfButyl octanoateAlcohol acyltranferaseMetabolic engineeringMicrobial productionFatty acid metabolism
spellingShingle Micaela G. Chacón
Emanuele G. Kendrick
David J. Leak
Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoA
PeerJ
Butyl octanoate
Alcohol acyltranferase
Metabolic engineering
Microbial production
Fatty acid metabolism
title Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoA
title_full Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoA
title_fullStr Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoA
title_full_unstemmed Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoA
title_short Engineering Escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl-CoA
title_sort engineering escherichia coli for the production of butyl octanoate from endogenous octanoyl coa
topic Butyl octanoate
Alcohol acyltranferase
Metabolic engineering
Microbial production
Fatty acid metabolism
url https://peerj.com/articles/6971.pdf
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AT emanuelegkendrick engineeringescherichiacolifortheproductionofbutyloctanoatefromendogenousoctanoylcoa
AT davidjleak engineeringescherichiacolifortheproductionofbutyloctanoatefromendogenousoctanoylcoa