title: Breaking down lignin to high-value chemicals: the conversion of lignocellulose to vanillin in a gene deletion mutant of Rhodococcus jostii RHA1.
abstract: The aromatic polymer lignin represents a possible renewable source of aromatic chemicals, if biocatalytic routes for lignin breakdown can be developed. The availability of a genome sequence for Rhodococcus jostii RHA1, a bacterium that breaks down lignin, has allowed the application of a targeted pathway engineering strategy to lignin breakdown to produce vanillin, a valuable food/flavor chemical. A gene deletion strain of R. jostii RHA1 in which the vanillin dehydrogenase gene had been deleted, when grown on minimal medium containing 2.5% wheat straw lignocellulose and 0.05% glucose, was found to accumulate vanillin with yields of up to 96 mg/L after 144 h, together with smaller amounts of ferulic acid and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Sainsbury
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Hardiman
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Seghezzi
authors.forename: Lindsay D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Eltis
authors.forename: Timothy D H
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Bugg
mesh_terms: D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008031:Lignin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D015394:Molecular Structure; D012240:Rhodococcus / Q000235:genetics*; D017384:Sequence Deletion / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001547:Benzaldehydes; C036909:lignocellulose; D008031:Lignin; C100058:vanillin