title: Perspectives of biotechnological production of L-tyrosine and its applications.
abstract: The aromatic amino acid L-tyrosine is used as a dietary supplement and has promise as a valuable precursor compound for various industrial and pharmaceutical applications. In contrast to chemical production, biotechnological methods can produce L-tyrosine from biomass feedstocks under environmentally friendly and near carbon-free conditions. In this minireview, various strategies for synthesizing L-tyrosine by employing biocatalysts are discussed, including initial approaches as well as more recent advances. Whereas early attempts to engineer L-tyrosine-excreting microbes were based on auxotrophic and antimetabolite-resistant mutants, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid technology and a vastly increasing knowledge of bacterial physiology allowed recently for more targeted genetic manipulations and strain improvements. As an alternative route, L-tyrosine can also be obtained from the conversion of phenol, pyruvate, and ammonia or phenol and serine in reactions catalyzed by the enzyme tyrosine phenol lyase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. tina.luetke-eversloh@uni-rostock.de
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lütke-Eversloh
authors.forename: Christine Nicole S
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stephanopoulos
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids; D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014447:Tyrosine Phenol-Lyase / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D014443:Tyrosine; D014447:Tyrosine Phenol-Lyase