(85c) Engineering Escherichia coli for Production of Biochemicals from Acetate

Using the non-food based raw materials to produce commodity chemicals has attracted great attentions. Acetate, a non-food based substrate obtained from multiple biological and chemical ways, is now being paid great attention in bio-manufacturing and have a strong potential to compete with sugar-based carbon source. In this study, engineered Escherichia coli strains were constructed for production of bio-chemicals, such as succinate, acetone, and isopropanol from acetate as sole carbon source successfully. The final concentrations of succinate and acetone produced by resting cell culture of different engineered strains reached 198 and 113 mM, respectively. Additional overexpression of ADH can convert acetone to isopropanol efficiently and about 22 mM of isopropanol was accumulated during the culture. This study explored the possibility of using acetate as the new carbon source for biochemical production, which would inspire the research for cost-effective biorefinery.