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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 1999, p. 1180-1185, Vol. 65, No. 3
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Metabolic Engineering of a 1,2-Propanediol Pathway in Escherichia coli

Nedim E. Altaras and Douglas C. Cameron*

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin---Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1691

Received 21 September 1998/Accepted 5 January 1999

1,2-Propanediol (1,2-PD) is a major commodity chemical that is currently derived from propylene, a nonrenewable resource. A goal of our research is to develop fermentation routes to 1,2-PD from renewable resources. Here we report the production of enantiomerically pure R-1,2-PD from glucose in Escherichia coli expressing NADH-linked glycerol dehydrogenase genes (E. coli gldA or Klebsiella pneumoniae dhaD). We also show that E. coli overexpressing the E. coli methylglyoxal synthase gene (mgs) produced 1,2-PD. The expression of either glycerol dehydrogenase or methylglyoxal synthase resulted in the anaerobic production of approximately 0.25 g of 1,2-PD per liter. R-1,2-PD production was further improved to 0.7 g of 1,2-PD per liter when methylglyoxal synthase and glycerol dehydrogenase (gldA) were coexpressed. In vitro studies indicated that the route to R-1,2-PD involved the reduction of methylglyoxal to R-lactaldehyde by the recombinant glycerol dehydrogenase and the reduction of R-lactaldehyde to R-1,2-PD by a native E. coli activity. We expect that R-1,2-PD production can be significantly improved through further metabolic and bioprocess engineering.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Cargill Central Research, P.O. Box 5702, Minneapolis, MN 55440-5702. Phone: (612) 742-3001. Fax: (612) 742-3010. E-mail: doug_cameron{at}cargill.com.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 1999, p. 1180-1185, Vol. 65, No. 3
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.