Biosynthesis of l-Sorbose and l-Psicose Based on C—C Bond Formation Catalyzed by Aldolases in an Engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum Strain
ABSTRACTThe property of loose stereochemical control at aldol products from aldolases helped to synthesize multiple polyhydroxylated compounds with nonnatural stereoconfiguration. In this study, we discovered for the first time that some fructose 1,6-diphosphate aldolases (FruA) and tagatose 1,6-diphosphate (TagA) aldolases lost their strict stereoselectivity when usingl-glyceraldehyde and synthesized not onlyl-sorbose but also a high proportion ofl-psicose. Among the aldolases tested, TagA fromBacillus licheniformis(BGatY) showed the highest enzyme activity withl-glyceraldehyde. Subsequently, a “one-pot” reaction based on BGatY and fructose-1-phosphatase (YqaB) generated 378 mg/literl-psicose and 199 mg/literl-sorbose from dihydroxyacetone-phosphate (DHAP) andl-glyceraldehyde. Because of the high cost and instability of DHAP, a microbial fermentation strategy was used further to producel-sorbose/l-psicose from glucose andl-glyceraldehyde, in which DHAP was obtained from glucose through the glycolytic pathway, and some recombination pathways based on FruA or TagA and YqaB were constructed inEscherichia coliandCorynebacterium glutamicumstrains. After evaluation of different host cells and combinations of FruA or TagA with YqaB and optimization of gene expression, recombinantC. glutamicumstrain WT(pXFTY) was selected and produced 2.53 g/liter total ketoses, with a yield of 0.50 g/gl-glyceraldehyde. Moreover, deletion of genecgl0331, encoding the Zn-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase inC. glutamicum, was confirmed for the first time to significantly decrease conversion ofl-glyceraldehyde to glycerol and to increase yield of target products. Finally, fed-batch culture of strain SY14(pXFTY) produced 3.5 g/literl-sorbose and 2.3 g/literl-psicose, with a yield of 0.61 g/gl-glyceraldehyde. This microbial fermentation strategy also could be applied to efficiently synthesize otherl-sugars.