Biodegradation-inspired bioproduction of methylacetoin and 2-methyl-2,3-butanediol.

Xinglin Jiang, Haibo Zhang, Jianming Yang, Yanning Zheng, Dexin Feng, Wei Liu, Xin Xu, Yujin Cao, Huibin Zou, Rubin Zhang, Tao Cheng, Fengjiao Jiao, Mo Xian

Scientific reports 2013

filter terms:

Methylacetoin (3-hydroxy-3-methylbutan-2-one) and 2-methyl-2,3-butanediol are currently obtained exclusively via chemical synthesis. Here, we report, to the best of our knowledge, the first alternative route, using engineered Escherichia coli. The biological synthesis of methylacetoin was first accomplished by reversing its biodegradation, which involved modifying the enzyme complex involved, switching the reaction substrate, and coupling the process to an exothermic reaction. 2-Methyl-2,3-butanediol was then obtained by reducing methylacetoin by exploiting the substrate promiscuity of acetoin reductase. A complete biosynthetic pathway from renewable glucose and acetone was then established and optimized via in vivo enzyme screening and host metabolic engineering, which led to titers of 3.4 and 3.2 g l(-1) for methylacetoin and 2-methyl-2,3-butanediol, respectively. This work presents a biodegradation-inspired approach to creating new biosynthetic pathways for small molecules with no available natural biosynthetic pathway.

Citation

Xinglin Jiang, Haibo Zhang, Jianming Yang, Yanning Zheng, Dexin Feng, Wei Liu, Xin Xu, Yujin Cao, Huibin Zou, Rubin Zhang, Tao Cheng, Fengjiao Jiao, Mo Xian. Biodegradation-inspired bioproduction of methylacetoin and 2-methyl-2,3-butanediol. Scientific reports. 2013;3:2445