A process for microbial hydrocarbon synthesis: Overproduction of fatty acids in Escherichia coli and catalytic conversion to alkanes.

ABSTRACT: The development of renewable alternatives to diesel and jet fuels is highly desirable for the heavy transportation sector, and would offer benefits over the production and use of short-chain alcohols for personal transportation. Here, we report the development of a metabolically engineered strain of Escherichia coli that overproduces medium-chain length fatty acids via three basic modifications: elimination of beta-oxidation, overexpression of the four subunits of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, and expression of a plant acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase from Umbellularia californica (BTE). The expression level of BTE was optimized by comparing fatty acid production from strains harboring BTE on plasmids with four different copy numbers. Expression of BTE from low copy number plasmids r

SUBMITTER: Lennen RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3833807 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature