(15c) Engineering of ADP1 for Production of Vanillin from Lignin
AIChE Annual Meeting
2017
2017 Annual Meeting
Food, Pharmaceutical & Bioengineering Division
Biobased Fuels and Chemicals: Biosynthetic Pathway Engineering & Enzymatic Conversion
Sunday, October 29, 2017 - 4:06pm to 4:24pm
Vanillin is one of the most widely used natural flavoring agents in the world. Its popularity exceeds the supply from traditional plant extraction. Therefore, chemical synthesis has been used to meet global demand. Although this has successfully improved vanillin availability and pricing, growing consumer preferences for ânaturalâ ingredients have steered food and agriculture firms to instead rely on biologically derived vanillin in their products. This forces the need for a creative solution for vanillin products to be both natural and affordable. Biotechnological approaches have been used to meet this need, with glucose and ferulic acid used as starting materials for a biological conversion to vanillin to date. Here, we look to harness the bacteria ADP1âs natural ability to degrade lignin monomers to produce vanillin from biomass. Our approach involves engineering ADP1 by deleting ADP1âs natural vanillic acid and protocatechuate degradation pathways and by introducing a catechol o-methyltransferase to convert protocatechuate to vanillic acid. In addition, we look to introduce a decarboxylase enzyme to convert vanillic acid to vanillin, to potentially provide an affordable and renewable source of natural vanillin.