%0 Journal Article
%T Use of acetate as substrate for sustainable production of homoserine and threonine by Escherichia coli W3110: A modular metabolic engineering approach.
%A Vo TM
%A Park JY
%A Kim D
%A Park S
%J Metab Eng
%V 84
%N 0
%D 2024 Jul 23
%M 38796054
%F 8.829
%R 10.1016/j.ymben.2024.05.004
%X Acetate, a promising yet underutilized carbon source for biological production, was explored for the efficient production of homoserine and threonine in Escherichia coli W. A modular metabolic engineering approach revealed the crucial roles of both acetate assimilation pathways (AckA/Pta and Acs), optimized TCA cycle flux and glyoxylate shunt activity, and enhanced CoA availability, mediated by increased pantothenate kinase activity, for efficient homoserine production. The engineered strain W-H22/pM2/pR1P exhibited a high acetate assimilation rate (5.47 mmol/g cell/h) and produced 44.1 g/L homoserine in 52 h with a 53% theoretical yield (0.18 mol/mol) in fed-batch fermentation. Similarly, strain W-H31/pM2/pR1P achieved 45.8 g/L threonine in 52 h with a 65% yield (0.22 mol/mol). These results represent the highest reported levels of amino acid production using acetate, highlighting its potential as a valuable and sustainable feedstock for biomanufacturing.