Maximization of saturated fatty acids through the production of P450BM3 monooxygenase in the engineered Escherichia coli

Abstract

The microbial fatty acid biosynthesis, which can be utilized as precursors for diverse chemical production has recently attracted important attention. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) occur rarely in nature but are more significant due to their higher industrial applications. They can be improved by engineered Escherichia coli; although, the previous production was low. In this work, improvements of both the strain and cultivation conditions were used to augment extracellular SFAs production by engineered E. coli. In addition, engineering with P450BM3 monooxygenase was applied to regulate SFAs production in E. coli. Three fatty acids (Lauric, LA, Myristic, MA, and Decanoic, DA) from engineered E. coli were first determined by HPLC. The expression of P450BM3 monooxygenase plasmid gene revealed higher yields of SFAs. Furthermore, optimization of SFAs production using diverse concentrations of glycerol (0.4%, 0.8% and 1.6%), iron (0.12 and 0.24 g/L) and trace element volumes (4 and 8 mL) was carried out in batch flasks and bioreactor to obtain the highest content of such FAs in E. coli. This study exhibited an improved yield of SFAs in E. coli reached to almost 35-fold higher for DA and 3-times for LA and MA, but in prior studies these FAs levels were not reported. Moreover, the produced SFAs were mainly secreted into the cultivation medium helped to favor its recovery. Therefore, the synthetic biotechnology can provide effective techniques for economic, high value and viable production of FAs in engineered E. coli.