Efficient production of D-1,2,4-butanetriol from D-xylose by engineered Escherichia coli whole-cell biocatalysts

Abstract

We have developed a whole-cell bioconversion system for the production of D-1,2,4-butanetriol (BT) from renewable biomass. A plasmid pETduet-xylB-yjhG-T7-adhP-T7-mdlC was constructed and transformed to Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) to obtain the whole cells of E. coli BL21-XYMA capable of bioconversion D-xylose to BT. Then, the factors including carbon sources, nitrogen sources, metal ions, and culture conditions (pH, temperature, IPTG) were identified, and their effects on the whole-cell activity for BT production were investigated. To obtain the highest whole-cell activity, the optimal cultivation parameters are: 15 g·L⁻¹ yeast extract, 5 g·L⁻¹ sucrose, 3 g·L⁻¹ KH₂PO₄, 5 g·L⁻¹ NaCl, 3 g·L⁻¹ NH₄Cl, 0.25 g·L⁻¹ MgSO₄∙7H₂O and 1 mL·L⁻¹ the mixture of trace elements. With the optimized whole cells of E. coli BL21-XYMA, 60 g·L⁻¹ of xylose was converted to 28 g·L⁻¹ BT with a molar yield of 66.0%, which is higher than those reported in the biotechnological system.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

D-1,2,4-butanetriol / whole-cell bioconversion / carbon source / nitrogen sources / metal ions / culture conditions

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21576134, 21606127, 21390200) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFA0204300).

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