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Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the production of butyric acid at high titer and productivity

Journal Article · · Biotechnology for Biofuels
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); DOE/OSTI
  2. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
  3. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); Hubei Univ., Wuhan (China)

Background: Several anaerobic bacteria produce butyric acid, a commodity chemical with use in chemical, pharmaceutical, food and feed industries, using complex media with acetate as a co-product. Butyrate titer of various recombinant Escherichia coli did not exceed 10 g l -1 in batch fermentations in any of the media tested.

Results: A recombinant E. coli (strain LW393) that produced butyrate as the major fermentation product was constructed with genes from E. coli, Clostridium acetobutylicum and Treponema denticola. Strain LW393 produced 323±6 mM (28.4±0.4 g l -1) butyric acid in batch fermentations in mineral salt medium with glucose as C source at a yield of 0.37±0.01 g (g glucose consumed)-1. Butyrate accounted for 90% of the total products produced by the culture. Supplementing this medium with yeast extract further increased butyric acid titer to 375±4 mM. Average volumetric productivity of butyrate with xylose as C source was 0.89±0.07 g l-1 h-1.

Conclusions: The butyrate titer reported in this study is about 2.5–3-times higher than the values reported for other recombinant E. coli and this is achieved in mineral salt medium with an expectation of lower purifcation and production cost of butyrate.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of Agriculture (USDA); USDOE Office of International Affairs (IA); USDOE Office of Policy and International Affairs (PO)
Grant/Contract Number:
PI0000031
OSTI ID:
1613814
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1766300
Journal Information:
Biotechnology for Biofuels, Journal Name: Biotechnology for Biofuels Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 1754-6834
Publisher:
BioMed CentralCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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