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Title: Metabolic engineering of the pentose phosphate pathway for enhanced limonene production in the cyanobacterium Synechocysti s sp. PCC 6803

Abstract

Isoprenoids are diverse natural compounds, which have various applications as pharmaceuticals, fragrances, and solvents. The low yield of isoprenoids in plants makes them difcult for cost-efective production, and chemical synthesis of complex isoprenoids is impractical. Microbial production of isoprenoids has been considered as a promising approach to increase the yield. In this study, we engineered the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 for sustainable production of a commercially valuable isoprenoid, limonene. Limonene synthases from the plants Mentha spicata and Citrus limon were expressed in cyanobacteria for limonene production. Production of limonene was two-fold higher with limonene synthase from M. spicata than that from C. limon. To enhance isoprenoid production, computational strain design was conducted by applying the OptForce strain design algorithm on Synechocystis 6803. Based on the metabolic interventions suggested by this algorithm, genes (ribose 5-phosphate isomerase and ribulose 5-phosphate 3-epimerase) in the pentose phosphate pathway were overexpressed, and a geranyl diphosphate synthase from the plant Abies grandis was expressed to optimize the limonene biosynthetic pathway. The optimized strain produced 6.7mg/L of limonene, a 2.3-fold improvement in productivity. Thus, this study presents a feasible strategy to engineer cyanobacteria for photosynthetic production of isoprenoids.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering
  2. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Biology
  3. Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering; Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Biology
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1624369
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-00ER41132
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Science & Technology - Other Topics

Citation Formats

Lin, Po-Cheng, Saha, Rajib, Zhang, Fuzhong, and Pakrasi, Himadri B. Metabolic engineering of the pentose phosphate pathway for enhanced limonene production in the cyanobacterium Synechocysti s sp. PCC 6803. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-17831-y.
Lin, Po-Cheng, Saha, Rajib, Zhang, Fuzhong, & Pakrasi, Himadri B. Metabolic engineering of the pentose phosphate pathway for enhanced limonene production in the cyanobacterium Synechocysti s sp. PCC 6803. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17831-y
Lin, Po-Cheng, Saha, Rajib, Zhang, Fuzhong, and Pakrasi, Himadri B. Fri . "Metabolic engineering of the pentose phosphate pathway for enhanced limonene production in the cyanobacterium Synechocysti s sp. PCC 6803". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17831-y. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1624369.
@article{osti_1624369,
title = {Metabolic engineering of the pentose phosphate pathway for enhanced limonene production in the cyanobacterium Synechocysti s sp. PCC 6803},
author = {Lin, Po-Cheng and Saha, Rajib and Zhang, Fuzhong and Pakrasi, Himadri B.},
abstractNote = {Isoprenoids are diverse natural compounds, which have various applications as pharmaceuticals, fragrances, and solvents. The low yield of isoprenoids in plants makes them difcult for cost-efective production, and chemical synthesis of complex isoprenoids is impractical. Microbial production of isoprenoids has been considered as a promising approach to increase the yield. In this study, we engineered the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 for sustainable production of a commercially valuable isoprenoid, limonene. Limonene synthases from the plants Mentha spicata and Citrus limon were expressed in cyanobacteria for limonene production. Production of limonene was two-fold higher with limonene synthase from M. spicata than that from C. limon. To enhance isoprenoid production, computational strain design was conducted by applying the OptForce strain design algorithm on Synechocystis 6803. Based on the metabolic interventions suggested by this algorithm, genes (ribose 5-phosphate isomerase and ribulose 5-phosphate 3-epimerase) in the pentose phosphate pathway were overexpressed, and a geranyl diphosphate synthase from the plant Abies grandis was expressed to optimize the limonene biosynthetic pathway. The optimized strain produced 6.7mg/L of limonene, a 2.3-fold improvement in productivity. Thus, this study presents a feasible strategy to engineer cyanobacteria for photosynthetic production of isoprenoids.},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-17831-y},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = 1,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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