Improving the Methanol Tolerance of an Escherichia coli Methylotroph via Adaptive Laboratory Evolution Enhances Synthetic Methanol Utilization.

ABSTRACT: There is great interest in developing synthetic methylotrophs that harbor methane and methanol utilization pathways in heterologous hosts such as Escherichia coli for industrial bioconversion of one-carbon compounds. While there are recent reports that describe the successful engineering of synthetic methylotrophs, additional efforts are required to achieve the robust methylotrophic phenotypes required for industrial realization. Here, we address an important issue of synthetic methylotrophy in E. coli: methanol toxicity. Both methanol, and its oxidation product, formaldehyde, are cytotoxic to cells. Methanol alters the fluidity and biological properties of cellular membranes while formaldehyde reacts readily with proteins and nucleic acids. Thus, efforts to enhance the metha

SUBMITTER: Bennett RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7904680 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature