Evaluation of Genetic Manipulation Strategies on d-Lactate Production by Escherichia coli

Combating micro/nano plastic pollution with bioplastic: Sustainable food packaging, challenges, and future perspectives

The widespread use of plastic in food packaging provides significant challenges due to its non-biodegradability and the risk of hazardous chemicals seeping into food and the environment. This highlights the pressing need to come up with alternatives to traditional plastic that prioritize environmental sustainability, food quality, and safety. The current study presents an up-to-date examination of micro/nano plastic (MP/NP) consumption and their associated toxicity to human health, while also considering bioplastic as safer and eco-friendly alternative materials for packaging. The study contributes to a deeper comprehension of the primary materials utilized for bioplastic manufacturing and their potential for large-scale use. The key findings underscore the distinctive features of bioplastics, such as starch, polyhydroxyalkanoates, polylactic acid, and polybutylene succinate, as well as their blends with active agents, rendering them suitable for innovative food packaging applications. Moreover, the study includes a discussion of insights from various scientific literature, agency reports (governmental and non-governmental), and industry trends in bioplastic production and their potential to combat MP/NP pollution. In essence, the review highlights future research directions for the safe integration of bioplastics in food packaging, addresses outstanding questions, and proposes potential solutions to challenges linked with plastic usage.

Galactitol Transport Factor GatA Relieves ATP Supply Restriction to Enhance Acid Tolerance of Escherichia coli in the Two-Stage Fermentation Production of D-Lactate

Escherichia coli is a major contributor to the industrial production of organic acids, but its production capacity and cost are limited by its acid sensitivity. Enhancing acid resistance in E. coli is essential for improving cell performance and production value. Here, we propose a feasible strategy for improving cellular acid tolerance by reducing ATP supply restriction. Transcriptome assays of acid-tolerant evolved strains revealed that the galactitol phosphotransferase system transporter protein GatA is an acid-tolerance factor that assists E. coli in improving its resistance to a variety of organic acids. Enhanced GatA expression increased cell survival under conditions of lethal stress due to D-lactic acid, itaconic acid and succinic acid by 101.8-fold, 29.4-fold and 41.6-fold, respectively. In addition, fermentation patterns for aerobic growth and oxygen-limited production of D-lactic acid were identified, and suitable transition and induction stages were evaluated. GatA effectively compensated for the lack of cellular energy during oxygen limitation and enabled the D-lactic acid producing strain to exhibit more sustainable productivity in acidic fermentation environments with a 55.7% increase in D-lactic acid titer from 9.5 g·L−1 to 14.8 g·L−1 and reduced generation of by-product. Thus, this study developed a method to improve the acid resistance of E. coli cells by compensating for the energy gap without affecting normal cell metabolism while reducing the cost of organic acid production.

Combinatorial Metabolic Engineering Strategies for the Enhanced Production of Free Fatty Acids in Escherichia coli

In this study, we evaluated the effects of several metabolic engineering strategies in a systematic and combinatorial manner to enhance the free fatty acid (FFA) production in Escherichia coli. The strategies included (i) overexpression of mutant thioesterase I ('TesA^R64C) to efficiently release the FFAs from fatty acyl-ACP; (ii) coexpression of global regulatory protein FadR; (iii) heterologous expression of methylmalonyl-CoA carboxyltransferase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase to synthesize fatty acid precursor molecule malonyl-CoA; and (iv) disruption of genes associated with membrane proteins (GusC, MdlA, and EnvR) to improve the cellular state and export the FFAs outside the cell. The synergistic effects of these genetic modifications in strain SBF50 yielded 7.2 ± 0.11 g/L FFAs at the shake flask level. In fed-batch cultivation under nitrogen-limiting conditions, strain SBF50 produced 33.6 ± 0.02 g/L FFAs with a productivity of 0.7 g/L/h from glucose, which is the maximum titer reported in E. coli to date. Combinatorial metabolic engineering approaches can prove to be highly useful for the large-scale production of FA-derived chemicals and fuels.

Substrate-inducible and antibiotic-free high-level 4-hydroxyvaleric acid production in engineered Escherichia coli

In this study, we developed a levulinic acid (LA)-inducible and antibiotic-free plasmid system mediated by HpdR/PhpdH and infA-complementation to produce 4-hydroxyvaleric acid (4-HV) from LA in an engineered Escherichia coli strain. The system was efficiently induced by the addition of the LA substrate and resulted in tight dose-dependent control and fine-tuning of gene expression. By engineering the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of hpdR mRNA, the gene expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) increased by at least two-fold under the hpdH promoter. Furthermore, by evaluating the robustness and plasmid stability of the proposed system, the engineered strain, IRV750f, expressing the engineered 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (3HBDH∗) and formate dehydrogenase (CbFDH), produced 82 g/L of 4-HV from LA, with a productivity of 3.4 g/L/h and molar conversion of 92% in the fed-batch cultivation (5 L fermenter) without the addition of antibiotics or external inducers. Overall, the reported system was highly beneficial for the large-scale and cost-effective microbial production of value-added products and bulk chemicals from the renewable substrate, LA.

Microbial cell factories for the production of three-carbon backbone organic acids from agro-industrial wastes

At present, mass production of basic and valuable commodities is dependent on linear petroleum-based industries, which ultimately makes the depletion of finite natural reserves and accumulation of non-biodegradable and hazardous wastes. Therefore, an ecofriendly and sustainable solution should be established for a circular economy where infinite resources, such as agro-industrial wastes, are fully utilized as substrates in the production of target value-added chemicals. Hereby, recent advances in metabolic engineering strategies and techniques used in the development of microbial cell factories for enhanced production of three-carbon platform chemicals such as lactic acid, propionic acid, and 3-hydroxypropionic acid are discussed. Further developments and future perspectives in the production of these organic acids from agro-industrial wastes from the dairy, sugar, and biodiesel industries are also highlighted to demonstrate the importance of waste-based biorefineries for organic acid production.

Contribution of Fermentation Technology to Building Blocks for Renewable Plastics

Large-scale worldwide production of plastics requires the use of large quantities of fossil fuels, leading to a negative impact on the environment. If the production of plastic continues to increase at the current rate, the industry will account for one fifth of global oil use by 2050. Bioplastics currently represent less than one percent of total plastic produced, but they are expected to increase in the coming years, due to rising demand. The usage of bioplastics would allow the dependence on fossil fuels to be reduced and could represent an opportunity to add some interesting functionalities to the materials. Moreover, the plastics derived from bio-based resources are more carbon-neutral and their manufacture generates a lower amount of greenhouse gasses. The substitution of conventional plastic with renewable plastic will therefore promote a more sustainable economy, society, and environment. Consequently, more and more studies have been focusing on the production of interesting bio-based building blocks for bioplastics. However, a coherent review of the contribution of fermentation technology to a more sustainable plastic production is yet to be carried out. Here, we present the recent advancement in bioplastic production and describe the possible integration of bio-based monomers as renewable precursors. Representative examples of both published and commercial fermentation processes are discussed.

Enhancement of Patchoulol Production in Escherichia coli via Multiple Engineering Strategies

As a natural sesquiterpene compound with numerous biological activities, patchoulol has extensive applications in the cosmetic industry and potential usage in pharmaceuticals. Although several patchoulol-producing microbial strains have been constructed, the low productivity still hampers large-scale fermentation. Escherichia coli possesses the ease of genetic manipulation and simple nutritional requirements and does not comprise competing pathways for the farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) precursor, showing its potential for patchoulol biosynthesis. Here, combinatorial strategies were applied to produce patchoulol in E. coli. The initial strain was constructed, and it produced 14 mg/L patchoulol after fermentation optimization. Patchoulol synthase (PTS) was engineered by semirational design, resulting in improved substrate binding affinity and a patchoulol titer of 40.3 mg/L; the patchoulol titer reached 66.2 mg/L after fusing of PTS with FPP synthase. To further improve the patchoulol production, the genome of an efficient chassis strain was engineered by deleting the competitive routes for acetate, lactate, ethanol, and succinate synthesis and cumulatively enhancing the expression of efflux transporters, which improved patchoulol production to 338.6 mg/L. When tested in a bioreactor, the patchoulol titer and productivity were further improved to 970.1 mg/L and 199 mg/L/d, respectively, and were among the highest levels reported using mineral salt medium.

A lysate proteome engineering strategy for enhancing cell-free metabolite production

Cell-free systems present a significant opportunity to harness the metabolic potential of diverse organisms. Removing the cellular context provides the ability to produce biological products without the need to maintain cell viability and enables metabolic engineers to explore novel chemical transformation systems. Crude extracts maintain much of a cell’s capabilities. However, only limited tools are available for engineering the contents of the extracts used for cell-free systems. Thus, our ability to take full advantage of the potential of crude extracts for cell-free metabolic engineering is constrained. Here, we employ Multiplex Automated Genomic Engineering (MAGE) to tag proteins for selective depletion from crude extracts so as to specifically direct chemical production. Specific edits to central metabolism are possible without significantly impacting cell growth. Selective removal of pyruvate degrading enzymes resulted in engineered crude lysates that are capable of up to 40-fold increases in pyruvate production when compared to the non-engineered extract. The described approach melds the tools of systems and synthetic biology to showcase the effectiveness of cell-free metabolic engineering for applications like bioprototyping and bioproduction.

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A method of engineering cell-free metabolism in lysates is described.

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Method enables design of cell lysates for enhancing specific metabolic processes.

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Pyruvate consuming enzymes tagged with 6xHis tags have minimal impact on growth.

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Post-lysis pull-down of tagged enzymes enables cell-free pyruvate pooling.

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Lysate engineering strategy permits metabolic states not possible in living cells.

Microbial Production of Biodegradable Lactate-Based Polymers and Oligomeric Building Blocks From Renewable and Waste Resources

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are naturally occurring biopolymers produced by microorganisms. PHAs have become attractive research biomaterials in the past few decades owing to their extensive potential industrial applications, especially as sustainable alternatives to the fossil fuel feedstock-derived products such as plastics. Among the biopolymers are the bioplastics and oligomers produced from the fermentation of renewable plant biomass. Bioplastics are intracellularly accumulated by microorganisms as carbon and energy reserves. The bioplastics, however, can also be produced through a biochemistry process that combines fermentative secretory production of monomers and/or oligomers and chemical synthesis to generate a repertoire of biopolymers. PHAs are particularly biodegradable and biocompatible, making them a part of today's commercial polymer industry. Their physicochemical properties that are similar to those of petrochemical-based plastics render them potential renewable plastic replacements. The design of efficient tractable processes using renewable biomass holds key to enhance their usage and adoption. In 2008, a lactate-polymerizing enzyme was developed to create new category of polyester, lactic acid (LA)-based polymer and related polymers. This review aims to introduce different strategies including metabolic and enzyme engineering to produce LA-based biopolymers and related oligomers that can act as precursors for catalytic synthesis of polylactic acid. As the cost of PHA production is prohibitive, the review emphasizes attempts to use the inexpensive plant biomass as substrates for LA-based polymer and oligomer production. Future prospects and challenges in LA-based polymer and oligomer production are also highlighted.

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for 2,3-butanediol production from cellulosic biomass by using glucose-inducible gene expression system

A glucose-inducible gene expression system has been developed using HexR-P_zwf1 of Pseudomonas putida to induce the metabolic pathways. Since the system is controlled by an Entner-Doudoroff pathway (EDP) intermediate, the EDP of Escherichia coli was activated by deleting pfkA and gntR genes. Growth experiment with green fluorescent protein as a reporter indicated that the induction of this system was tightly controlled over a wide range of glucose in E. coli without adding any inducer. 2,3-butanediol (BDO) synthetic pathway genes were expressed by this system in the pfkA-gntR-deleted strain. The resultant engineered strain harbouring this system efficiently produced BDO with a 71% increased titer than the control strain. The strain was also able to produce BDO from a mixture of glucose and xylose which is comparable to glucose alone. Further, the strain produced 11 g/L of BDO at a yield of 0.48 g/g from the hydrolysate of empty palm fruit bunches. This system can also be applied in many other bio-production processes from lignocellulosic biomass.

Application of a Pyruvate-Producing Escherichia coli Strain LAFCPCPt-accBC-aceE: A Case Study for d-Lactate Production

Pyruvate, a potential precursor of various chemicals, is one of the fundamental chemicals produced by the fermentation process. We previously reported a pyruvate-producing Escherichia coli strain LAFCPCPt-accBC-aceE (PYR) that has the potential to be applied to the industrial production of pyruvate. In this study, the availability of the PYR strain for the production of pyruvate-derivative chemicals was evaluated using a d-lactate-producing strain (LAC) based on the PYR strain. The LAC strain expresses a d-lactate dehydrogenase-encoding gene from Lactobacillus bulgaricus under the control of a T7 expression system. The d-lactate productivity of the LAC strain was further improved by limiting aeration and changing the induction period for the expression of d-lactate dehydrogenase-encoding gene expression. Under combined conditions, the LAC strain produced d-lactate at 21.7 ± 1.4 g·L−1, which was compatible with the pyruvate production by the PYR strain (26.1 ± 0.9 g·L−1). These results suggest that we have succeeded in the effective conversion of pyruvate to d-lactate in the LAC strain, demonstrating the wide versatility of the parental PYR strain as basal strain for various chemicals production.

Metabolic pathway analysis for in silico design of efficient autotrophic production of advanced biofuels

Herein, autotrophic metabolism of Cupriavidus necator H16 growing on CO2, H2 and O2 gas mixture was analyzed by metabolic pathway analysis tools, specifically elementary mode analysis (EMA) and flux balance analysis (FBA). As case studies, recombinant strains of C. necator H16 for the production of short-chain (isobutanol) and long-chain (hexadecanol) alcohols were constructed and examined by a combined tools of EMA and FBA to comprehensively identify the cell’s metabolic flux profiles and its phenotypic spaces for the autotrophic production of recombinant products. The effect of genetic perturbations via gene deletion and overexpression on phenotypic space of the organism was simulated to improve strain performance for efficient bioconversion of CO2 to products at high yield and high productivity. EMA identified multiple gene deletion together with controlling gas input composition to limit phenotypic space and push metabolic fluxes towards high product yield, while FBA identified target gene overexpression to debottleneck rate-limiting fluxes, hence pulling more fluxes to enhance production rate of the products. A combination of gene deletion and overexpression resulted in designed mutant strains with a predicted yield of 0.21–0.42 g/g for isobutanol and 0.20–0.34 g/g for hexadecanol from CO2. The in silico-designed mutants were also predicted to show high productivity of up to 38.4 mmol/cell-h for isobutanol and 9.1 mmol/cell-h for hexadecanol under autotrophic cultivation. The metabolic modeling and analysis presented in this study could potentially serve as a valuable guidance for future metabolic engineering of C. necator H16 for an efficient CO2-to-biofuels conversion.

High-Level Production of 4-Hydroxyvalerate from Levulinic Acid via Whole-Cell Biotransformation Decoupled from Cell Metabolism

γ-Hydroxyvalerate (4HV) is an important monomer used to produce various valuable polymers and products. In this study, an engineered 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase that can convert levulinic acid (LA) into 4HV was co-expressed with a cofactor (NADH) regeneration system mediated by an NAD⁺-dependent formate dehydrogenase (CbFDH) in the Escherichia coli strain, MG1655. The resulting strain produced 23-fold more 4HV in a shake flask. The 4HV production was not dependent on ATP and required low aeration; all of these are considered beneficial characteristics for the production of target compounds, especially at an industrial scale. Under optimized conditions in a 5 L fermenter, the titer, productivity, and molar conversion efficiency for 4HV reached 100 g/L, 4.2 g/L/h, and 92%, respectively. Our system could prove to be a promising method for the large-scale production of 4HV from LA at low-cost and using a renewable biomass source.

From Escherichia coli mutant 13C labeling data to a core kinetic model: A kinetic model parameterization pipeline

Kinetic models of metabolic networks offer the promise of quantitative phenotype prediction. The mechanistic characterization of enzyme catalyzed reactions allows for tracing the effect of perturbations in metabolite concentrations and reaction fluxes in response to genetic and environmental perturbation that are beyond the scope of stoichiometric models. In this study, we develop a two-step computational pipeline for the rapid parameterization of kinetic models of metabolic networks using a curated metabolic model and available 13C-labeling distributions under multiple genetic and environmental perturbations. The first step involves the elucidation of all intracellular fluxes in a core model of E. coli containing 74 reactions and 61 metabolites using 13C-Metabolic Flux Analysis (13C-MFA). Here, fluxes corresponding to the mid-exponential growth phase are elucidated for seven single gene deletion mutants from upper glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway and the Entner-Doudoroff pathway. The computed flux ranges are then used to parameterize the same (i.e., k-ecoli74) core kinetic model for E. coli with 55 substrate-level regulations using the newly developed K-FIT parameterization algorithm. The K-FIT algorithm employs a combination of equation decomposition and iterative solution techniques to evaluate steady-state fluxes in response to genetic perturbations. k-ecoli74 predicted 86% of flux values for strains used during fitting within a single standard deviation of 13C-MFA estimated values. By performing both tasks using the same network, errors associated with lack of congruity between the two networks are avoided, allowing for seamless integration of data with model building. Product yield predictions and comparison with previously developed kinetic models indicate shifts in flux ranges and the presence or absence of mutant strains delivering flux towards pathways of interest from training data significantly impact predictive capabilities. Using this workflow, the impact of completeness of fluxomic datasets and the importance of specific genetic perturbations on uncertainties in kinetic parameter estimation are evaluated.

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for hyperproduction of polymer-grade L- and D-lactic acid

Strain development is critical for microbial production of bio-based chemicals. The stereo-complex form of polylactic acid, a complex of poly-L- and poly-D-lactic acid, is a promising polymer candidate due to its high thermotolerance. Here, we developed Corynebacterium glutamicum strains producing high amounts of L- and D-lactic acid through intensive metabolic engineering. Chromosomal overexpression of genes encoding the glycolytic enzymes, glucokinase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, triosephosphate isomerase, and enolase, increased L- and D-lactic acid concentration by 146% and 56%, respectively. Chromosomal integration of two genes involved in the Entner-Doudoroff pathway (6-phosphogluconate dehydratase and 2-dehydro-3-deoxyphosphogluconate aldolase), together with a gene encoding glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from Zymomonas mobilis, to bypass the carbon flow from glucose, further increased L- and D-lactic acid concentration by 11% and 44%, respectively. Finally, additional chromosomal overexpression of a gene encoding NADH dehydrogenase to modulate the redox balance resulted in the production of 212 g/L L-lactic acid with a 97.9% yield and 264 g/L D-lactic acid with a 95.0% yield. The optical purity of both L- and D-lactic acid was 99.9%. Because the constructed metabolically engineered strains were devoid of plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes and were cultivated in mineral salts medium, these strains could contribute to the cost-effective production of the stereo-complex form of polylactic acid in practical scale.

Biotechnological valorization of agro industrial and household wastes for lactic acid production

Lactic acid (LA) is an organic compound used in several industries, such as food, textile, chemical, and pharmaceutical. The global interest  in  this  product  is  due  to  its  use  for  the  synthesis  of  numerous  chemical  compounds,  including  polylactic  acid,  a  biode-gradable thermoplastic and substitute for petroleum-derived plastics. An in-depth overview of the use of industrial and household wastes as inexpensive substrates in order to reduce the cost of LA production is presented. A review is carried out of the biotech-nological aspects that must be taken into account when using some wastes with high transformation potential to produce LA in a submerged  culture,  as  well  recommendations  for  their  use.  The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  different  types  of  treatments used for the transformation of waste into suitable substrates are considered. Several methods of fermentation, as well as genetic strategies for increasing the production, are summarized and compared. It is expected that in a few years there will be many ad-vances in these areas that will allow greater large-scale production of LA using agroindustrial or household wastes, with potential positive economic and environmental impact in some regions of the planet.

Improved ethanol productivity from lignocellulosic hydrolysates by Escherichia coli with regulated glucose utilization

Background

Lignocellulosic ethanol could offer a sustainable source to meet the increasing worldwide demand for fuel. However, efficient and simultaneous metabolism of all types of sugars in lignocellulosic hydrolysates by ethanol-producing strains is still a challenge.

Results

An engineered strain Escherichia coli B0013-2021HPA with regulated glucose utilization, which could use all monosaccharides in lignocellulosic hydrolysates except glucose for cell growth and glucose for ethanol production, was constructed. In E. coli B0013-2021HPA, pta-ackA, ldhA and pflB were deleted to block the formation of acetate, lactate and formate and additional three mutations at glk, ptsG and manZ generated to block the glucose uptake and catabolism, followed by the replacement of the wild-type frdA locus with the ptsG expression cassette under the control of the temperature-inducible λ pR and pL promoters, and the final introduction of pEtac-PA carrying Zymomonas mobilis pdc and adhB for the ethanol pathway. B0013-2021HPA was able to utilize almost all xylose, galactose and arabinose but not glucose for cell propagation at 34 °C and converted all sugars to ethanol at 42 °C under oxygen-limited fermentation conditions.

Conclusions

Engineered E. coli strain with regulated glucose utilization showed efficient metabolism of mixed sugars in lignocellulosic hydrolysates and thus higher productivity of ethanol production.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-018-0915-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Engineering and application of synthetic nar promoter for fine-tuning the expression of metabolic pathway genes in Escherichia coli

BACKGROUND

Promoters regulate the expression of metabolic pathway genes to control the flux of metabolism. Therefore, fine-tuning of metabolic pathway gene expression requires an applicable promoter system. In this study, a dissolved oxygen-dependent nar promoter was engineered for fine-tuning the expression levels of biosynthetic pathway enzymes in Escherichia coli. To demonstrate the feasibility of using the synthetic nar promoters in production of biochemicals in E. coli, the d-lactate pathway consisting of one enzyme and the 2,3-butanediol (BDO) pathway consisting of three enzymes were investigated.

RESULTS

The spacer sequence of 15 bp between the - 35 and - 10 elements of the upstream region of the wild-type nar promoter was randomized, fused to the GFP gene, transduced into E. coli, and screened by flow cytometry. The sorted synthetic nar promoters were divided into three groups according to fluorescence intensity levels: strong, intermediate, and weak. The selected three representative nar promoters of strong, intermediate, and weak intensities were used to control the expression level of the d-lactate and 2,3-BDO biosynthetic pathway enzymes in E. coli. When the ldhD gene encoding d-lactate dehydrogenase was expressed under the control of the strong synthetic nar promoter in fed-batch cultures of E. coli, the d-lactate titers were 105.6 g/L, 34% higher than those using the wild-type promoter (79.0 g/L). When the three 2,3-BDO pathway genes (ilvBN, aldB, and bdh1) were expressed under the control of combinational synthetic nar promoters (strong-weak-strong) in fed-batch cultures of E. coli, the titers of 2,3-BDO were 88.0 g/L, 72% higher than those using the wild-type promoter (51.1 g/L).

CONCLUSIONS

The synthetic nar promoters, which were engineered to have strong, intermediate, and weak intensities, were successfully applied to metabolic engineering of d-lactate and 2,3-BDO pathways in E. coli. By controlling expression levels of d-lactate and 2,3-BDO pathway enzymes using the synthetic nar promoters, the production of d-lactate and 2,3-BDO was increased over that using the wild-type promoter by 34 and 72%, respectively. Thus, this synthetic promoter module system will support the improved production of biochemicals and biofuels through fine-tuning of gene expression levels.

A novel strategy for production of ethanol and recovery of xylose from simulated corncob hydrolysate

OBJECTIVES

To develop a xylose-nonutilizing Escherichia coli strain for ethanol production and xylose recovery.

RESULTS

Xylose-nonutilizing E. coli CICIM B0013-2012 was successfully constructed from E. coli B0013-1030 (pta-ack, ldhA, pflB, xylH) by deletion of frdA, xylA and xylE. It exhibited robust growth on plates containing glucose, arabinose or galactose, but failed to grow on xylose. The ethanol synthesis pathway was then introduced into B0013-2012 to create an ethanologenic strain B0013-2012PA. In shaking flask fermentation, B0013-2012PA fermented glucose to ethanol with the yield of 48.4 g/100 g sugar while xylose remained in the broth. In a 7-l bioreactor, B0013-2012PA fermented glucose, galactose and arabinose in the simulated corncob hydrolysate to 53.4 g/l ethanol with the yield of 48.9 g/100 g sugars and left 69.6 g/l xylose in the broth, representing 98.6% of the total xylose in the simulated corncob hydrolysate.

CONCLUSIONS

By using newly constructed strain B0013-2012PA, we successfully developed an efficient bioprocess for ethanol production and xylose recovery from the simulated corncob hydrolysate.

Production of D-lactate from glucose using Klebsiella pneumoniae mutants

Background

d-Lactate is a valued chemical which can be produced by some bacteria including Klebsiella pneumoniae. However, only a few studies have focused on K. pneumoniae for d-lactate production with a significant amount of by-products, which complicated the purification process and decreased the yield of d-lactate.

Results

Based on the redirection of carbon towards by-product formation, the effects of single-gene and multiple-gene deletions in K. pneumoniae on d-lactate production from glucose via acetolactate synthase (budB), acetate kinase (ackA), and alcohol dehydrogenase (adhE) were tested. Klebsiella pneumoniae mutants had different production behaviours. The accumulation of the main by-products was decreased in the mutants. The triple mutant strain had the most powerful ability to produce optically pure d-lactate from glucose, and was tested with xylose and arabinose as carbon sources. Fed-batch fermentation was also carried out under various aeration rates, and the strain accumulated 125.1 g/L d-lactate with a yield of 0.91 g/g glucose at 2.5 vvm.

Conclusions

Knocking out by-product synthesis genes had a remarkable influence on the production and yield of d-lactate. This study demonstrated, for the first time, that K. pneumoniae has great potential to convert monosaccharides into d-lactate. The results provide new insights for industrial production of d-lactate by K. pneumoniae.

Temperature-dependent dynamic control of the TCA cycle increases volumetric productivity of itaconic acid production by Escherichia coli

Based on the recently constructed Escherichia coli itaconic acid production strain ita23, we aimed to improve the productivity by applying a two‐stage process strategy with decoupled production of biomass and itaconic acid. We constructed a strain ita32 (MG1655 ΔaceA Δpta ΔpykF ΔpykA pCadCs), which, in contrast to ita23, has an active tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and a fast growth rate of 0.52 hr⁻¹ at 37°C, thus representing an ideal phenotype for the first stage, the growth phase. Subsequently we implemented a synthetic genetic control allowing the downregulation of the TCA cycle and thus the switch from growth to itaconic acid production in the second stage. The promoter of the isocitrate dehydrogenase was replaced by the Lambda promoter (p_R) and its expression was controlled by the temperature‐sensitive repressor CI857 which is active at lower temperatures (30°C). With glucose as substrate, the respective strain ita36A grew with a fast growth rate at 37°C and switched to production of itaconic acid at 28°C. To study the impact of the process strategy on productivity, we performed one‐stage and two‐stage bioreactor cultivations. The two‐stage process enabled fast formation of biomass resulting in improved peak productivity of 0.86 g/L/hr (+48%) and volumetric productivity of 0.39 g/L/hr (+22%) in comparison to the one‐stage process. With our dynamic production strain, we also resolved the glutamate auxotrophy of ita23 and increased the itaconic acid titer to 47 g/L. The temperature‐dependent activation of gene expression by the Lambda promoters (p_R/p_L) has been frequently used to improve protein or, in a few cases, metabolite production in two‐stage processes. Here we demonstrate that the system can be as well used in the opposite direction to selectively knock‐down an essential gene (icd) in E. coli to design a two‐stage process for improved volumetric productivity. The control by temperature avoids expensive inducers and has the potential to be generally used to improve cell factory performance.

Microbial synthesis of a novel terpolyester P(LA-co-3HB-co-3HP) from low-cost substrates

Polylactide (PLA) is a bio-based plastic commonly synthesized by chemical catalytic reaction using lactic acid (LA) as a substrate. Here, novel LA-containing terpolyesters, namely, P[LA-co-3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB)-co-3-hydroxypropionate (3HP)], short as PLBP, were successfully synthesized for the first time by a recombinant Escherichia coli harbouring polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase from Pseudomonas stutzeri (PhaC1_Ps ) with 4-point mutations at E130D, S325T, S477G and Q481K, and 3-hydroxypropionyl-CoA (3HP-CoA) synthesis pathway from glycerol, 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA (3HB-CoA) as well as lactyl-CoA (LA-CoA) pathways from glucose. Combining these pathways with the PHA synthase mutant phaC1_Ps (E130D S325T S477G Q481K), the random terpolyester P(LA-co-3HB-co-3HP), or PLBP, was structurally confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance to consist of 2 mol% LA, 90 mol% 3HB, and 8 mol% 3HP respectively. Remarkably, the PLBP terpolyester was produced from low-cost sustainable glycerol and glucose. Monomer ratios of PLBP could be regulated by ratios of glycerol to glucose. Other terpolyester thermal and mechanical properties can be manipulated by adjusting the monomer ratios. More PLBP applications are to be expected.

Engineering cell factories for producing building block chemicals for bio-polymer synthesis

Synthetic polymers are widely used in daily life. Due to increasing environmental concerns related to global warming and the depletion of oil reserves, the development of microbial-based fermentation processes for the production of polymer building block chemicals from renewable resources is desirable to replace current petroleum-based methods. To this end, strains that efficiently produce the target chemicals at high yields and productivity are needed. Recent advances in metabolic engineering have enabled the biosynthesis of polymer compounds at high yield and productivities by governing the carbon flux towards the target chemicals. Using these methods, microbial strains have been engineered to produce monomer chemicals for replacing traditional petroleum-derived aliphatic polymers. These developments also raise the possibility of microbial production of aromatic chemicals for synthesizing high-performance polymers with desirable properties, such as ultraviolet absorbance, high thermal resistance, and mechanical strength. In the present review, we summarize recent progress in metabolic engineering approaches to optimize microbial strains for producing building blocks to synthesize aliphatic and high-performance aromatic polymers.

Efficient L-Alanine Production by a Thermo-Regulated Switch in Escherichia coli

L-Alanine has important applications in food, pharmaceutical and veterinary and is used as a substrate for production of engineered thermoplastics. Microbial fermentation could reduce the production cost and promote the application of L-alanine. However, the presence of L-alanine significantly inhibit cell growth rate and cause a decrease in the ultimate L-alanine productivity. For efficient L-alanine production, a thermo-regulated genetic switch was designed to dynamically control the expression of L-alanine dehydrogenase (alaD) from Geobacillus stearothermophilus on the Escherichia coli B0016-060BC chromosome. The optimal cultivation conditions for the genetically switched alanine production using B0016-060BC were the following: an aerobic growth phase at 33 °C with a 1-h thermo-induction at 42 °C followed by an oxygen-limited phase at 42 °C. In a bioreactor experiment using the scaled-up conditions optimized in a shake flask, B0016-060BC accumulated 50.3 g biomass/100 g glucose during the aerobic growth phase and 96 g alanine/100 g glucose during the oxygen-limited phase, respectively. The L-alanine titer reached 120.8 g/l with higher overall and oxygen-limited volumetric productivities of 3.09 and 4.18 g/l h, respectively, using glucose as the sole carbon source. Efficient cell growth and L-alanine production were reached separately, by switching cultivation temperature. The results revealed the application of a thermo-regulated strategy for heterologous metabolic production and pointed to strategies for improving L-alanine production.

Production of Long-Chain α,ω-Dicarboxylic Acids by Engineered Escherichia coli from Renewable Fatty Acids and Plant Oils

Long-chain α,ω-dicarboxylic acids (LDCAs, ≥ C12) are widely used as a raw material for preparing various commodities and polymers. In this study, a CYP450-monooxygenase-mediated ω-oxidation pathway system with high ω-regioselectivity was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli to produce DCAs from fatty acids. The resulting engineered E. coli produced a maximum of 41 mg/L of C12 DCA and 163 mg/L of C14 DCA from fatty acids (1 g/L), following 20 h of whole cell biotransformation. Addition of a heme precursor and the hydroxyl radical scavenger, thiourea, increased product concentration (159 mg/L of C12 DCA and 410 mg/L of C14 DCA) in a shorter culture duration than that of the corresponding controls. DCAs of various chain lengths were synthesized from coconut oil hydrolysate using the engineered E. coli. This novel synthetic biocatalytic system could be applied to produce high value DCAs in a cost-effective manner from renewable plant oils.

Metabolic engineering of strains: from industrial-scale to lab-scale chemical production

A plethora of successful metabolic engineering case studies have been published over the past several decades. Here, we highlight a collection of microbially produced chemicals using a historical framework, starting with titers ranging from industrial scale (more than 50 g/L), to medium-scale (5–50 g/L), and lab-scale (0–5 g/L). Although engineered Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae emerge as prominent hosts in the literature as a result of well-developed genetic engineering tools, several novel native-producing strains are gaining attention. This review catalogs the current progress of metabolic engineering towards production of compounds such as acids, alcohols, amino acids, natural organic compounds, and others.

Model-driven intracellular redox status modulation for increasing isobutanol production in Escherichia coli

BACKGROUND

Few strains have been found to produce isobutanol naturally. For building a high performance isobutanol-producing strain, rebalancing redox status of the cell was very crucial through systematic investigation of redox cofactors metabolism. Then, the metabolic model provided a powerful tool for the rational modulation of the redox status.

RESULTS

Firstly, a starting isobutanol-producing E. coli strain LA02 was engineered with only 2.7 g/L isobutanol produced. Then, the genome-scale metabolic modeling was specially carried out for the redox cofactor metabolism of the strain LA02 by combining flux balance analysis and minimization of metabolic adjustment, and the GAPD reaction catalyzed by the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was predicted as the key target for redox status improvement. Under guidance of the metabolic model prediction, a gapN-encoding NADP(+) dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase pathway was constructed and then fine-tuned using five constitutive promoters. The best strain LA09 was obtained with the strongest promoter BBa_J23100. The NADPH/NADP + ratios of strain LA09 reached 0.67 at exponential phase and 0.64 at stationary phase. The redox modulations resulted in the decrease production of ethanol and lactate by 17.5 and 51.7% to 1.32 and 6.08 g/L, respectively. Therefore, the isobutanol titer was increased by 221% to 8.68 g/L.

CONCLUSIONS

This research has achieved rational redox status improvement of isobutanol-producing strain under guidance of the prediction and modeling of the genome-scale metabolic model of isobutanol-producing E. coli strain with the aid of synthetic promoters. Therefore, the production of isobutanol was dramatically increased by 2.21-fold from 2.7 to 8.68 g/L. Moreover, the developed model-driven method special for redox cofactor metabolism was of very helpful to the redox status modulation of other bio-products.

Construction of Escherichia Coli Cell Factories for Production of Organic Acids and Alcohols

Production of bulk chemicals from renewable biomass has been proved to be sustainable and environmentally friendly. Escherichia coli is the most commonly used host strain for constructing cell factories for production of bulk chemicals since it has clear physiological and genetic characteristics, grows fast in minimal salts medium, uses a wide range of substrates, and can be genetically modified easily. With the development of metabolic engineering, systems biology, and synthetic biology, a technology platform has been established to construct E. coli cell factories for bulk chemicals production. In this chapter, we will introduce this technology platform, as well as E. coli cell factories successfully constructed for production of organic acids and alcohols.

Production of optically pure d-lactate from glycerol by engineered Klebsiella pneumoniae strain

In this study, glycerol was used to produce optically pure d-lactate by engineered Klebsiella pneumoniae strain. In the recombinant strain, d-lactate dehydrogenase LdhA was overexpressed, and two genes, dhaT and yqhD for biosynthesis of main byproduct 1,3-propanediol, were knocked out. To further improve d-lactate production, the culture condition was optimized and the results demonstrated that aeration rate played an important role in d-lactate production. In microaerobic fed-batch fermentation, the engineered strain accumulated 142.1g/L optically pure d-lactate with a yield of 0.82g/g glycerol, which represented the highest d-lactate production from glycerol so far. This study showed that K. pneumoniae strain has high efficiency to convert glycerol into d-lactate and high potentiality in utilization of crude glycerol from biodiesel industry.

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for improving shikimate synthesis from glucose

Shikimate is a key intermediate for the synthesis of the neuraminidase inhibitors. Microbial production of shikimate and related derivatives has the benefit of cost reduction when compared to traditional methods. In this study, an overproducing shikimate Escherichia coli strain was developed by rationally engineering certain metabolic pathways. To achieve this, the shikimate pathway was blocked by deletion of shikimate kinases and quinic acid/shikimate dehydrogenase. EIICB(glc) protein involved in the phosphotransferase system, and acetic acid pathway were also removed to increase the amount of available phosphoenolpyruvate and decrease byproduct formation, respectively. Thereafter, three critical enzymes of mutated 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonate-7-phosphate (DAHP) synthase (encoded by aroG(fbr)), PEP synthase (encoded by ppsA), and transketolase A (encoded by tktA) were modularly overexpressed and the resulting recombinant strain produced 1207 mg/L shikimate in shake flask cultures. Using the fed-batch process, 14.6g/L shikimate with a yield of 0.29 g/g glucose was generated in a 7-L bioreactor.

Highly efficient L-lactate production using engineered Escherichia coli with dissimilar temperature optima for L-lactate formation and cell growth

L-Lactic acid, one of the most important chiral molecules and organic acids, is produced via pyruvate from carbohydrates in diverse microorganisms catalyzed by an NAD+-dependent L-lactate dehydrogenase. Naturally, Escherichia coli does not produce L-lactate in noticeable amounts, but can catabolize it via a dehydrogenation reaction mediated by an FMN-dependent L-lactate dehydrogenase. In aims to make the E. coli strain to produce L-lactate, three L-lactate dehydrogenase genes from different bacteria were cloned and expressed. The L-lactate producing strains, 090B1 (B0013-070, ΔldhA::diflldD::Pldh-ldhLca), 090B2 (B0013-070, ΔldhA::diflldD::Pldh-ldhStrb) and 090B3 (B0013-070, ΔldhA::diflldD::Pldh-ldhBcoa) were developed from a previously developed D-lactate over-producing strain, E. coli strain B0013-070 (ack-ptappspflBdldpoxBadhEfrdA) by: (1) deleting ldhA to block D-lactate formation, (2) deleting lldD to block the conversion of L-lactate to pyruvate, and (3) expressing an L-lactate dehydrogenase (L-LDH) to convert pyruvate to L-lactate under the control of the ldhA promoter. Fermentation tests were carried out in a shaking flask and in a 25-l bioreactor. Strains 090B1, 090B2 or 090B3 were shown to metabolize glucose to L-lactate instead of D-lactate. However, L-lactate yield and cell growth rates were significantly different among the metabolically engineered strains which can be attributed to a variation between temperature optimum for cell growth and temperature optimum for enzymatic activity of individual L-LDH. In a temperature-shifting fermentation process (cells grown at 37°C and L-lactate formed at 42°C), E. coli 090B3 was able to produce 142.2 g/l of L-lactate with no more than 1.2 g/l of by-products (mainly acetate, pyruvate and succinate) accumulated. In conclusion, the production of lactate by E. coli is limited by the competition relationship between cell growth and lactate synthesis. Enzymatic properties, especially the thermodynamics of an L-LDH can be effectively used as a factor to regulate a metabolic pathway and its metabolic flux for efficient L-lactate production.

HIGHLIGHTS

The enzymatic thermodynamics was used as a tool for metabolic regulation. Minimizing the activity of L-lactate dehydrogenase in growth phase improved biomass accumulation. Maximizing the activity of L-lactate dehydrogenase improved lactate productivity in production phase.

Increased 3-hydroxypropionic acid production from glycerol, by modification of central metabolism in Escherichia coli

Background

3-hydroxypropionic acid (3HP) is an important chemical precursor for the production of bioplastics. Microbial production of 3HP from glycerol has previously been developed through the optimization of culture conditions and the 3HP biosynthesis pathway. In this study, a novel strategy for improving 3HP production in Escherichia coli was investigated by the modification of central metabolism based on a genome-scale metabolic model and experimental validation.

Results

Metabolic simulation identified the double knockout of tpiA and zwf as a candidate for improving 3HP production. A 3HP-producing strain was constructed by the expression of glycerol dehydratase and aldehyde dehydrogenase. The double knockout of tpiA and zwf increased the percentage carbon-molar yield (C-mol%) of 3HP on consumed glycerol 4.4-fold (20.1 ± 9.2 C-mol%), compared to the parental strain. Increased extracellular methylglyoxal concentrations in the ΔtpiA Δzwf strain indicated that glycerol catabolism was occurring through the methylglyoxal pathway, which converts dihydroxyacetone phosphate to pyruvate, as predicted by the metabolic model. Since the ΔtpiA Δzwf strain produced abundant 1,3-propanediol as a major byproduct (37.7 ± 13.2 C-mol%), yqhD, which encodes an enzyme involved in the production of 1,3-propanediol, was disrupted in the ΔtpiA Δzwf strain. The 3HP yield of the ΔtpiA Δzwf ΔyqhD strain (33.9 ± 1.2 C-mol%) was increased 1.7-fold further compared to the ΔtpiA Δzwf strain and by 7.4-fold compared to the parental strain.

Conclusion

This study successfully increased 3HP production by 7.4-fold in the ΔtpiA Δzwf ΔyqhD E. coli strain by the modification of the central metabolism, based on metabolic simulation and experimental validation of engineered strains.

Structural control of metabolic flux

Organisms have to continuously adapt to changing environmental conditions or undergo developmental transitions. To meet the accompanying change in metabolic demands, the molecular mechanisms of adaptation involve concerted interactions which ultimately induce a modification of the metabolic state, which is characterized by reaction fluxes and metabolite concentrations. These state transitions are the effect of simultaneously manipulating fluxes through several reactions. While metabolic control analysis has provided a powerful framework for elucidating the principles governing this orchestrated action to understand metabolic control, its applications are restricted by the limited availability of kinetic information. Here, we introduce structural metabolic control as a framework to examine individual reactions' potential to control metabolic functions, such as biomass production, based on structural modeling. The capability to carry out a metabolic function is determined using flux balance analysis (FBA). We examine structural metabolic control on the example of the central carbon metabolism of Escherichia coli by the recently introduced framework of functional centrality (FC). This framework is based on the Shapley value from cooperative game theory and FBA, and we demonstrate its superior ability to assign “share of control” to individual reactions with respect to metabolic functions and environmental conditions. A comparative analysis of various scenarios illustrates the usefulness of FC and its relations to other structural approaches pertaining to metabolic control. We propose a Monte Carlo algorithm to estimate FCs for large networks, based on the enumeration of elementary flux modes. We further give detailed biological interpretation of FCs for production of lactate and ATP under various respiratory conditions.

Insight into the functioning of metabolic control to meet changing demands is a first step in rational engineering of biological systems towards a desired behavior. Metabolic control analysis provides the means to examine the impact of change of reaction fluxes on a specific target flux based on kinetic modeling, but suffers from limitations of the kinetic approach. Here, we introduce and analyze structural metabolic control as a framework to overcome these limitations. We utilize functional centrality, a framework based on the Shapley value from cooperative game theory and flux balance analysis, to determine the contribution of individual reactions to the functions accomplished by a metabolic network. These contributions, in turn, depend on the control exerted on the remaining network. Functional centrality provides the mathematical means to gain further understanding of metabolic control. The potential applications range from facilitating strategies of rational strain design to drug target identification.

Enhanced production of poly(lactate-co-3-hydroxybutyrate) from xylose in engineered Escherichia coli overexpressing a galactitol transporter

Poly(lactate-co-3-hydroxybutyrate) (P(LA-co-3HB)) was previously produced from xylose in engineered Escherichia coli. The aim of this study was to increase the polymer productivity and LA fraction in P(LA-co-3HB) using two metabolic engineering approaches: (1) deletions of competing pathways to lactate production and (2) overexpression of a galactitol transporter (GatC), which contributes to the ATP-independent xylose uptake. Engineered E. coli mutants (ΔpflA, Δpta, ΔackA, ΔpoxB, Δdld, and a dual mutant; ΔpflA + Δdld) and their parent strain, BW25113, were grown on 20 g l(-1) xylose for P(LA-co-3HB) production. The single deletions of ΔpflA, Δpta, and Δdld increased the LA fraction (58-66 mol%) compared to BW25113 (56 mol%). In particular, the ΔpflA + Δdld strain produced P(LA-co-3HB) containing 73 mol% LA. Furthermore, GatC overexpression increased both polymer yields and LA fractions in ΔpflA, Δpta, and Δdld mutants, and BW25113. The ΔpflA + gatC strain achieved a productivity of 8.3 g l(-1), which was 72 % of the theoretical maximum yield. Thus, to eliminate limitation of the carbon source, higher concentration of xylose was fed. As a result, BW25113 harboring gatC grown on 40 g l(-1) xylose reached the highest P(LA-co-3HB) productivity of 14.4 g l(-1). On the other hand, the ΔpflA + Δdld strain grown on 30 g l(-1) xylose synthesized 6.4 g l(-1) P(LA-co-3HB) while maintaining the highest LA fraction (73 mol%). The results indicated the usefulness of GatC for enhanced production of P(LA-co-3HB) from xylose, and the gene deletions to upregulate the LA fraction in P(LA-co-3HB). The polymers obtained had weight-averaged molecular weights in the range of 34,000-114,000.

Genome-wide analysis of redox reactions reveals metabolic engineering targets for D-lactate overproduction in Escherichia coli

Most current metabolic engineering applications rely on the inactivation of unwanted reactions and the amplification of product-oriented reactions. All of the biochemical reactions involved with cellular metabolism are tightly coordinated with the electron flow, which depends on the cellular energy status. Thus, the cellular metabolic flux can be controlled either by modulation of the electron flow or the regulation of redox reactions. This study analyzed the genome-wide anaerobic fermentation products of 472 Escherichia coli single gene knockouts, which comprised mainly of dehydrogenases, oxidoreductases, and redox-related proteins. Many metabolic pathways that were located far from anaerobic mixed-acid fermentation significantly affected the profiles of lactic acid, succinic acid, acetic acid, formic acid, and ethanol. Unexpectedly, D-lactate overproduction was determined by a single gene deletion in dehydrogenases (e.g., guaB, pyrD, and serA) involved with nucleotide and amino acid metabolism. Furthermore, the combined knockouts of guaB, pyrD, serA, fnr, arcA, or arcB genes, which are involved with anaerobic transcription regulation, enhanced D-lactate overproduction. These results suggest that the anaerobic fermentation profiles of E. coli can be tuned via the disruption of peripheral dehydrogenases in anaerobic conditions.

Metabolic engineering of Klebsiella oxytoca M5a1 to produce optically pure D-lactate in mineral salts medium

Klebsiella oxytoca strains were constructed to produce optical pure d-lactate by pH-controlled batch fermentation in mineral salts medium. The alcohol dehydrogenase gene, adhE, and the phospho-transacetylase/acetate kinase A genes, pta-ackA, were deleted from the wild type. KMS002 (ΔadhE) and KMS004 (ΔadhE Δpta-ackA) exhibited d-lactate production as a primary pathway for the regeneration of NAD(+). Both strains produced 11-13 g/L of d-lactate in medium containing 2% (w/v) glucose with yields of 0.64-0.71 g/g glucose used. In sugarcane molasses, KMS002 and KMS004 produced 22-24 g/L of d-lactate with yields of 0.80-0.87 g/g total sugars utilized. Both strains also utilized maltodextrin derived from cassava starch and produced d-lactate at a concentration of 33-34 g/L with yields of 0.91-0.92 g/g maltodextrin utilized. These d-lactate yields are higher than those reported for engineered E. coli strains.

Fine tuning the transcription of ldhA for d-lactate production

Fine tuning of the key enzymes to moderate rather than high expression levels could overproduce the desired metabolic products without inhibiting cell growth. The aims of this investigation were to regulate rates of lactate production and cell growth in recombinant Escherichia coli through promoter engineering and to evaluate the transcriptional function of the upstream region of ldhA (encoding fermentative lactate dehydrogenase in E. coli). Twelve ldhA genes with sequentially shortened chromosomal upstream regions were cloned in an ldhA deletion, E. coli CICIM B0013-080C (ack-pta pps pflB dld poxB adhE frdA ldhA). The varied ldhA upstream regions were further analyzed using program NNPP2.2 (Neural Network Promoter Prediction 2.2) to predict the possible promoter regions. Two-phase fermentations (aerobic growth and oxygen-limited production) of these strains showed that shortening the ldhA upstream sequence from 291 to 106 bp successively reduced aerobic lactate synthesis and the inhibition effect on cell growth during the first phase. Simultaneously, oxygen-limited lactate productivity was increased during the second phase. The putative promoter downstream of the −96 site of ldhA could function as a transcriptional promoter or regulator. B0013-080C/pTH-rrnB-ldhA8, with the 72-bp upstream segment of ldhA, could be grown at a high rate and achieve a high oxygen-limited lactate productivity of 1.09 g g−1 h−1. No transcriptional promoting region was apparent downstream of the −61 site of ldhA. We identified the latent transcription regions in the ldhA upstream sequence, which will help to understand regulation of ldhA expression.