NADH-dependent lactate dehydrogenase from Alcaligenes eutrophus H16 reduces 2-oxoadipate to 2-hydroxyadipate

Metabolic Engineering for Effective Synthesis of 2-Hydroxyadipate

Adipic acid is an important monomer in the synthesis of nylon-6,6. In recent years, the biosynthesis of adipic acid has received more and more attention. The pathway with l-lysine as a precursor has potential for adipic acid synthesis, and 2-hydroxyadipate is a key intermediate metabolite in this pathway. In this Letter, the biosynthesis pathway of 2-hydroxyadipate was constructed in Escherichia coli. Through enhancement of precursor synthesis and cofactors regulation, 7.11 g/L of 2-hydroxyadipate was produced in the 5 L bioreactor, which verified the scale-up potential of 2-hydroxyadipate production. Furthermore, 11.1 g/L of 2-hydroxyadipate was produced in the 5 L bioreactor on the basis of potential optimization strategies via transcriptome analysis. This is the first time for the biosynthesis of 2-hydroxyadipate. The results lay a solid foundation for the biosynthesis of adipic acid and the production of bionylon.

Directed Evolution of (R)-2-Hydroxyglutarate Dehydrogenase Improves 2-Oxoadipate Reduction by 2 Orders of Magnitude

Pathway engineering is commonly employed to improve the production of various metabolites but may incur in bottlenecks due to the low catalytic activity of a particular reaction step. The reduction of 2-oxoadipate to (R)-2-hydroxyadipate is a key reaction in metabolic pathways that exploit 2-oxoadipate conversion via α-reduction to produce adipic acid, an industrially important platform chemical. Here, we engineered (R)-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase from Acidaminococcus fermentans (Hgdh) with the aim of improving 2-oxoadipate reduction. Using a combination of computational analysis, saturation mutagenesis, and random mutagenesis, three mutant variants with a 100-fold higher catalytic efficiency were obtained. As revealed by rational analysis of the mutations found in the variants, this improvement could be ascribed to a general synergistic effect where mutation A206V played a key role since it boosted the enzyme’s activity by 4.8-fold. The Hgdh variants with increased activity toward 2-oxoadipate generated within this study pave the way for the bio-based production of adipic acid.

Development of efficient microbial cell factory for whole-cell bioconversion of L-threonine to 2-hydroxybutyric acid

Production of 2-hydroxybutyric acid (2-HBA) was attempted in recombinant Escherichia coli W3110 Δtdh ΔilvIH (over)expressing a homologous and mutated threonine dehydratase (ilvA*) and a heterologous 2-ketobutyric acid (2-KBA) reductase from Alcaligenes eutrophus H16 (Ae_ldh). To prevent the degradation of 2-KBA, the aceE, poxB and pflB genes were deleted, and for blocking the 2-HBA degradation, the lldD and dld genes were disrupted. In addition, for efficient NADH regeneration/supply, a heterologous formate dehydrogenase from Candida boidinii (Cb_fdh) was overexpressed. Under anaerobic condition, E. coli W3110 Δtdh ΔilvIH ΔaceE ΔpoxB ΔlldD Δdld ΔpflB could produce > 400 mM 2-HBA in 33 h with the yield of ∼ 0.95 mol/mol. Furthermore, by enhancing the expression of a mutant Cb_fdh, the titer could be increased to ∼ 650 mM in 33 h. This study provides an efficient microbial cell factory for the bioconversion of threonine to 2-HBA with a high yield.