Renewable production of high density jet fuel precursor sesquiterpenes from Escherichia coli

Liu, Chun-Li; Tian, Tian; Alonso-Gutierrez, Jorge; Garabedian, Brett; Wang, Shuai; Baidoo, Edward E. K.; Benites, Veronica; Chen, Yan; Petzold, Christopher J.; Adams, Paul D.; Keasling, Jay D.; Tan, Tianwei; Lee, Taek Soon

doi:10.1186/s13068-018-1272-z

Title: Renewable production of high density jet fuel precursor sesquiterpenes from Escherichia coli

Abstract

Aviation fuels are an important target of biofuels research due to their high market demand and competitive price. Isoprenoids have been demonstrated as good feedstocks for advanced renewable jet fuels with high energy density, high heat of combustion, and excellent cold-weather performance. In particular, sesquiterpene compounds (C₁₅), such as farnesene and bisabolene, have been identified as promising jet fuel candidates. In this study, we explored three sesquiterpenes—epi-isozizaene, pentalenene and α-isocomene—as novel jet fuel precursors. We performed a computational analysis to calculate the energy of combustion of these sesquiterpenes and found that their specific energies are comparable to commercial jet fuel A-1. Through heterologous MVA pathway expression and promoter engineering, we produced 727.9 mg/L epi-isozizaene, 780.3 mg/L pentalenene and 77.5 mg/L α-isocomene in Escherichia coli and 344 mg/L pentalenene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We also introduced a dynamic autoinduction system using previously identified FPP-responsive promoters for inducer-free production and managed to achieve comparable amounts of each compound. We produced tricyclic sesquiterpenes epi-isozizaene, pentalenene and α-isocomene, promising jet fuel feedstocks at high production titers, providing novel, sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuels.

Authors:

Liu, Chun-Li; Tian, Tian; Alonso-Gutierrez, Jorge; Garabedian, Brett; Wang, Shuai; Baidoo, Edward E. K.; Benites, Veronica; Chen, Yan; Petzold, Christopher J.; Adams, Paul D.; Keasling, Jay D.; Tan, Tianwei;

Publication Date:: Sat Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2018

Research Org.:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); China Scholarship Council

OSTI Identifier:: 1618757

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1494090

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; 21390202

Resource Type:: Published Article

Journal Name:: Biotechnology for Biofuels

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Biotechnology for Biofuels Journal Volume: 11 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1754-6834

Publisher:: Springer Science + Business Media

Country of Publication:: Netherlands

Language:: English

Subject:: 09 BIOMASS FUELS; sesquiterpene; jet fuel; epi-isozizaene; pentalenene; α-isocomene; FPP-responsive promoter engineering

Citation Formats


                    Liu, Chun-Li, Tian, Tian, Alonso-Gutierrez, Jorge, Garabedian, Brett, Wang, Shuai, Baidoo, Edward E. K., Benites, Veronica, Chen, Yan, Petzold, Christopher J., Adams, Paul D., Keasling, Jay D., Tan, Tianwei, and Lee, Taek Soon. Renewable production of high density jet fuel precursor sesquiterpenes from Escherichia coli.  Netherlands: N. p., 2018. 
Web.  doi:10.1186/s13068-018-1272-z.

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                    Liu, Chun-Li, Tian, Tian, Alonso-Gutierrez, Jorge, Garabedian, Brett, Wang, Shuai, Baidoo, Edward E. K., Benites, Veronica, Chen, Yan, Petzold, Christopher J., Adams, Paul D., Keasling, Jay D., Tan, Tianwei, & Lee, Taek Soon. Renewable production of high density jet fuel precursor sesquiterpenes from Escherichia coli.  Netherlands.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-018-1272-z

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                    Liu, Chun-Li, Tian, Tian, Alonso-Gutierrez, Jorge, Garabedian, Brett, Wang, Shuai, Baidoo, Edward E. K., Benites, Veronica, Chen, Yan, Petzold, Christopher J., Adams, Paul D., Keasling, Jay D., Tan, Tianwei, and Lee, Taek Soon. Sat .  
"Renewable production of high density jet fuel precursor sesquiterpenes from Escherichia coli".  Netherlands.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-018-1272-z.

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@article{osti_1618757,

  title        = {Renewable production of high density jet fuel precursor sesquiterpenes from Escherichia coli},

  author       = {Liu, Chun-Li and Tian, Tian and Alonso-Gutierrez, Jorge and Garabedian, Brett and Wang, Shuai and Baidoo, Edward E. K. and Benites, Veronica and Chen, Yan and Petzold, Christopher J. and Adams, Paul D. and Keasling, Jay D. and Tan, Tianwei and Lee, Taek Soon},

  abstractNote = {Aviation fuels are an important target of biofuels research due to their high market demand and competitive price. Isoprenoids have been demonstrated as good feedstocks for advanced renewable jet fuels with high energy density, high heat of combustion, and excellent cold-weather performance. In particular, sesquiterpene compounds (C15), such as farnesene and bisabolene, have been identified as promising jet fuel candidates. In this study, we explored three sesquiterpenes—epi-isozizaene, pentalenene and α-isocomene—as novel jet fuel precursors. We performed a computational analysis to calculate the energy of combustion of these sesquiterpenes and found that their specific energies are comparable to commercial jet fuel A-1. Through heterologous MVA pathway expression and promoter engineering, we produced 727.9 mg/L epi-isozizaene, 780.3 mg/L pentalenene and 77.5 mg/L α-isocomene in Escherichia coli and 344 mg/L pentalenene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We also introduced a dynamic autoinduction system using previously identified FPP-responsive promoters for inducer-free production and managed to achieve comparable amounts of each compound. We produced tricyclic sesquiterpenes epi-isozizaene, pentalenene and α-isocomene, promising jet fuel feedstocks at high production titers, providing novel, sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuels.},

  doi          = {10.1186/s13068-018-1272-z},

  journal      = {Biotechnology for Biofuels},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 11,

  place        = {Netherlands},

  year         = {Sat Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2018},

  month        = {Sat Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2018}

}

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MOESM1 of Renewable production of high density jet fuel precursor sesquiterpenes from Escherichia coli
figure, October 2018

Liu, Chun-Li; Tian, Tian; Alonso-Gutierrez, Jorge
figshare-Supplementary information for journal article at DOI: 10.1186/s13068-018-1272-z, 1 DOCX file (3.78 MB)
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.7233542
This figure is a supplement to the current record