Frontiers in Microbiology (Aug 2015)

Heterologous expression of Mus musculus immunoresponsive gene 1 (irg1) in Escherichia coli results in itaconate production

  • Kiira S Vuoristo,
  • Astrid E Mars,
  • Stijn van eLoon,
  • Enrico eOrsi,
  • Gerrit eEggink,
  • Johan P.M. Sanders,
  • Ruud A Weusthuis

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00849
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6

Abstract

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Itaconic acid, a C5-dicarboxylic acid, is a potential biobased building block for the polymer industry. It is obtained from the citric acid cycle by decarboxylation of cis-aconitic acid. This reaction is catalysed by CadA in the native itaconic acid producer Aspergillus terreus. Recently, another enzyme encoded by the mammalian immunoresponsive gene 1 (irg1), was found to decarboxylate cis-aconitate to itaconate in vitro. We show that heterologous expression of irg1 enabled itaconate production in E. coli with production titres up to 560 mg/L.

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