title: Improving the tolerance of Escherichia coli to medium-chain fatty acid production.
abstract: Microbial fatty acids are an attractive source of precursors for a variety of renewable commodity chemicals such as alkanes, alcohols, and biofuels. Rerouting lipid biosynthesis into free fatty acid production can be toxic, however, due to alterations of membrane lipid composition. Here we find that membrane lipid composition can be altered by the direct incorporation of medium-chain fatty acids into lipids via the Aas pathway in cells expressing the medium-chain thioesterase from Umbellularia californica (BTE). We find that deletion of the aas gene and sequestering exported fatty acids reduces medium-chain fatty acid toxicity, partially restores normal lipid composition, and improves medium-chain fatty acid yields.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA-DOE Laboratory of Genomics and Proteomics, Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Saken
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sherkhanov
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA-DOE Laboratory of Genomics and Proteomics, Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Tyler P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Korman
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA-DOE Laboratory of Genomics and Proteomics, Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: bowie@mbi.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: James U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Bowie
mesh_terms: D003001:Cloning, Molecular / Q000379:methods; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D024861:Genetic Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D010170:Palmitoyl-CoA Hydrolase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D027422:Umbellularia / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D010170:Palmitoyl-CoA Hydrolase
keywords: Biofuel; Fatty acid metabolism; Membrane composition; Metabolic engineering