Improving the production of isoprene and 1,3-propanediol by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli through recycling redox cofactor between the dual pathways

Abstract

The biosynthesis of isoprene by microorganisms is a promising green route. However, the yield of isoprene is limited due to the generation of excess NAD(P)H via the mevalonate (MVA) pathway, which converts more glucose into CO₂ or undesired reduced by-products. The production of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) from glycerol is a typical NAD(P)H-consuming process, which restricts 1,3-PDO yield to ~ 0.7 mol/mol. In this study, we propose a strategy of redox cofactor balance by coupling the production of isoprene with 1,3-PDO fermentation. With the introduction and optimization of the dual pathways in an engineered Escherichia coli, ~ 85.2% of the excess NADPH from isoprene pathway was recycled for 1,3-PDO production. The best strain G05 simultaneously produced 665.2 mg/L isoprene and 2532.1 mg/L 1,3-PDO under flask fermentation conditions. The yields were 0.3 mol/mol glucose and 1.0 mol/mol glycerol, respectively, showing 3.3- and 4.3-fold improvements relative to either pathway independently. Since isoprene is a volatile organic compound (VOC) whereas 1,3-PDO is separated from the fermentation broth, their coproduction process does not increase the complexity or cost for the separation from each other. Hence, the presented strategy will be especially useful for developing efficient biocatalysts for other biofuels and biochemicals, which are driven by cofactor concentrations.