Engineering xylose metabolism for production of polyhydroxybutyrate in the non-model bacterium Burkholderia sacchari

Author(s)

Guaman, Linda P. ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Barba-Ostria, Carlos ^{[3, 4, 5]} ; Zhang, Fuzhong ^[5] ; Oliveira-Filho, Edmar R. ^[3] ; Gomez, Jose Gregbrio C. ^[3] ; Silva, Luiziana F. ^[3]

Affiliation

^[1] Tech Univ Ambato, Fac Sci & Food Engn, Ambato - Ecuador

^[2] Univ Tecnol Equinoccial, Fac Ciencias Salud Eugenio Espejo, Ctr Invest Biomed, Quito - Ecuador

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Microbiol, Av Prof Lineu Prestes 1374 Lab 148, Cidade Univ, BR-05508888 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[4] Tech Univ Ambato, Fac Hlth Sci, Ambato - Ecuador

^[5] Washington Univ, Dept Energy Environm & Chem Engn, St Louis, MO 63130 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Microbial Cell Factories; v. 17, MAY 15 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 3

Abstract

Background: Despite its ability to grow and produce high-value molecules using renewable carbon sources, two main factors must be improved to use Burkholderia sacchari as a chassis for bioproduction at an industrial scale first, the lack of molecular tools to engineer this organism and second, the inherently slow growth rate and poly-3-hydroxybutyrate {[}P(3HB)] production using xylose. In this work, we have addressed both factors. Results: First, we adapted a set of BglBrick plasmids and showed tunable expression in B. sacchari. Finally, we assessed growth rate and P(3HB) production through overexpression of xylose transporters, catabolic or regulatory genes. Overexpression of xylR significantly improved growth rate (55.5% improvement), polymer yield (77.27% improvement), and resulted in 71% of cell dry weight as P(3HB). Conclusions: These values are unprecedented for P(3HB) accumulation using xylose as a sole carbon source and highlight the importance of precise expression control for improving utilization of hemicellulosic sugars in B. sacchari. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/51989-4 - Systemic analysis, metabolic engineering and economic evaluation of hemicellulosic hydrolysate utilization in bioprocesses
• Grantee: Luiziana Ferreira da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants
• FAPESP's process: 16/00842-0 - Enhancing pentose and co-substrate bacterial uptake for the production of biopolymers from biomass: strain improvement, bioprocess optimization and application tests
• Grantee: Luiziana Ferreira da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants