Strain optimization for aromatic amino acids using an Escherichia coli kinetic model

Abstract

Phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan are highly important aromatic amino acids, vital for food and pharmaceutics industry. They aren't only valuable by themselves, as they are also precursors for other high-added value compounds. However, their production by microorganisms is highly regulated, which hampers industrial production. Using kinetic modelling, we aim to provide a new tool to identify targets for metabolic engineering, in order to increase these amino acids production. To do this, we created a model, that encompasses the central carbon metabolism all the way to these amino acids production pathways, including their regulation by feedback inhibition. Optimizations were then performed to obtain sets of targets for metabolic engineering, which were then compared to the existing strategies found in literature. We obtained solutions similar to the strategies found in literature, but also new strategies not yet reported, which could imply new chassis for aromatic amino acids production.