title: Engineering a novel biosynthetic pathway in Escherichia coli for production of renewable ethylene glycol.
abstract: Ethylene glycol (EG) is an important commodity chemical with broad industrial applications. It is presently produced from petroleum or natural gas feedstocks in processes requiring consumption of significant quantities of non-renewable resources. Here, we report a novel pathway for biosynthesis of EG from the renewable sugar glucose in metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Serine-to-EG conversion was first achieved through a pathway comprising serine decarboxylase, ethanolamine oxidase, and glycolaldehyde reductase. Serine provision in E. coli was then enhanced by overexpression of the serine-biosynthesis pathway. The integration of these two parts into the complete EG-biosynthesis pathway in E. coli allowed for production of 4.1 g/L EG at a cumulative yield of 0.14 g-EG/g-glucose, establishing a foundation for a promising biotechnology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139.
authors.forename: Haoran
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139.|Center for Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis, Department for Biochemical and Microbial Technology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Mey
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139.
authors.forename: Chin Giaw
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zheng-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139. gregstep@mit.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stephanopoulos
mesh_terms: D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019855:Ethylene Glycol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D012694:Serine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012694:Serine; D019855:Ethylene Glycol; D005947:Glucose
keywords: ethylene glycol; metabolic engineering; renewable; serine