Evaluation of bacterial hosts for conversion of lignin-derived p-coumaric acid to 4-vinylphenol
Abstract Hydroxycinnamic acids such as p -coumaric acid (CA) are chemically linked to lignin in grassy biomass with fairly labile ester bonds and therefore represent a straightforward opportunity to extract and valorize lignin components. In this work, we investigated the enzymatic conversion of CA extracted from lignocellulose to 4-vinylphenol (4VP) by expressing a microbial phenolic acid decarboxylase in Corynebacterium glutamicum , Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis . The performance of the recombinant strains was evaluated in response to the substrate concentration in rich medium or a lignin liquor and the addition of an organic overlay to perform a continuous product extraction in batch cultures. We found that using undecanol as an overlay enhanced the 4VP titers under high substrate concentrations, while extracting > 97% of the product from the aqueous phase. C. glutamicum showed the highest tolerance to CA and resulted in the accumulation of up to 187 g/L of 4VP from pure CA in the overlay with a 90% yield when using rich media, or 17 g/L of 4VP with a 73% yield from CA extracted from lignin. These results indicate that C. glutamicum is a suitable host for the high-level production of 4VP and that further bioprocess engineering strategies should be explored to optimize the production, extraction, and purification of 4VP from lignin with this organism.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; NA0003525
- OSTI ID:
- 1820204
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--2021-10131J; 181; PII: 1670
- Journal Information:
- Microbial Cell Factories, Journal Name: Microbial Cell Factories Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 20; ISSN 1475-2859
- Publisher:
- Springer Science + Business MediaCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
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