Enhancement of β-Alanine Biosynthesis in <em>Escherichia coli</em> Based on Multivariate Modular Metabolic Engineering

Abstract

β-alanine is widely used as an intermediate in industrial production. However, the low production of microbial cell factories limits its further application. Here, to improve the biosynthesis production of β-alanine in Escherichia coli, multivariate modular metabolic engineering was recruited to manipulate the β-alanine biosynthesis pathway through keeping the balance of metabolic flux among the whole metabolic network. The β-alanine biosynthesis pathway was separated into three modules: the β-alanine biosynthesis module, TCA module, and glycolysis module. Global regulation was performed throughout the entire β-alanine biosynthesis pathway rationally and systematically by optimizing metabolic flux, overcoming metabolic bottlenecks and weakening branch pathways. As a result, metabolic flux was channeled in the direction of β-alanine biosynthesis without huge metabolic burden, and 37.9 g/L β-alanine was generated by engineered Escherichia coli strain B0016-07 in fed-batch fermentation. This study was meaningful to the synthetic biology of β-alanine industrial production.

Keywords

• metabolic engineering
• synthetic biology
• multivariate modular metabolic engineering
• pathway balance