Production of plant-specific tyramine derivatives by dual expression of tyramine N-hydroxycinnamoyltransferase and 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase in Escherichia coli

Abstract

Plant-specific bioactive compounds including feruloyltyramine (FT), 4-coumaroyltyramine (CT), and caffeoyltyramine (CaT) were simultaneously produced in Escherichia coli by heterologous expression of two biosynthetic genes encoding 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase and tyramine N-hydroxycinnamoyltransferase (THT) cloned from Arabidopsis thaliana and pepper, respectively. Simultaneous supplementation of substrates to the recombinant E. coli resulted in the secretion of multiple tyramine derivatives into the medium at high yield: CT (189 mg l(-1)), FT (135 mg l(-1)), CaT (40 mg l(-1)). In addition, the recombinant E. coli also produced, albeit at low concentration, a range of dopamine derivatives such as feruloyldopamine due to THT's ability to accept dopamine as a substrate.