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Perspectives for the microbial production of ethyl acetate

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Abstract

Ethyl acetate is one of the short-chain esters and widely used in the food, beverage, and solvent areas. The ethyl acetate production currently proceeds through unsustainable and energy intensive processes, which are based on natural gas and crude oil. Microbial conversion of biomass-derived sugars into ethyl acetate may provide a sustainable alternative. In this review, the perspectives of bio-catalyzing ethanol and acetic acid to ethyl acetate using lipases in vitro was introduced. Besides, the crucial elements for high yield of ethyl acetate in fermentation was expounded. Also, metabolic engineering in yeasts to product ethyl acetate in vivo using alcohol acyl transferases (AAT) was discussed.

Key points

•The accumulation of acetyl-CoA is crucial for synthesizing ethyl acetate in vivo; AAT-mediated metabolic engineering could efficiently improve ethyl acetate production.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (2018YFA0902200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21978130, 31961133017, and 21706125), the Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation for Youths (BK2170993 and BK20170997), and the Jiangsu Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Bio-Manufacture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Puzhu South Road 30#, Nanjing, 211800, People’s Republic of China

    Shangjie Zhang, Feng Guo, Wei Yan, Weiliang Dong, Jie Zhou, Wenming Zhang, Fengxue Xin & Min Jiang

  2. Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211800, People’s Republic of China

    Weiliang Dong, Jie Zhou, Wenming Zhang, Fengxue Xin & Min Jiang

Authors
  1. Shangjie Zhang
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  2. Feng Guo
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  3. Wei Yan
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  4. Weiliang Dong
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  5. Jie Zhou
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  6. Wenming Zhang
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  7. Fengxue Xin
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  8. Min Jiang
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Contributions

SZ conceived, designed, and drafted the paper. SZ and FG wrote the part of lipase-catalyzed esterification reactions for ethyl acetate production in vitro. WY and WD wrote the part of ethyl acetate production by yeasts in vivo. JZ and WZ wrote the part of AAT-mediated metabolic engineering for ethyl acetate production. FX and MJ wrote the part of conclusion and future perspectives. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wenming Zhang or Fengxue Xin.

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Zhang, S., Guo, F., Yan, W. et al. Perspectives for the microbial production of ethyl acetate. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104, 7239–7245 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10756-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-020-10756-z

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