title: Overproduction of α-Lipoic Acid by Gene Manipulated Escherichia coli.
abstract: Alpha-lipoic acid (LA) is an important enzyme cofactor widely used by organisms and is also a natural antioxidant for the treatment of pathologies driven by low levels of endogenous antioxidants. In order to establish a safer and more efficient process for LA production, we developed a new biological method for LA synthesis based on the emerging knowledge of lipoic acid biosynthesis. We first cloned the lipD gene, which encodes the lipoyl domain of the E2 subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase, allowing high levels of LipD production. Plasmids containing genes for the biosynthesis of LA were subsequently constructed utilizing various vectors and promotors to produce high levels of LA. These plasmids were transformed into the Escherichia coli strain BL21. Octanoic acid (OA) was used as the substrate for LA synthesis. One transformant, YS61, which carried lipD, lplA, and lipA, produced LA at levels over 200-fold greater than the wild-type strain, showing that LA could be produced efficiently in E. coli using genetic engineering methods.
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yirong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.|Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Protein Function and Regulation in Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenbin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Protein Function and Regulation in Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jincheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Protein Function and Regulation in Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.|Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, P.R.China.
authors.forename: Hongshen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Protein Function and Regulation in Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Haihong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D008063:Thioctic Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008063:Thioctic Acid