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Examining the feasibility of bulk commodity production in Escherichia coli

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Abstract

Escherichia coli is currently used by many research institutions and companies around the world as a platform organism for the development of bio-based production processes for bulk biochemicals. A given bulk biochemical bioprocess must be economically competitive with current production routes. Ideally the viability of each bioprocess should be evaluated prior to commencing research, both by metabolic network analysis (to determine the maximum theoretical yield of a given biocatalyst) and by techno-economic analysis (TEA; to determine the conditions required to make the bioprocess cost-competitive). However, these steps are rarely performed. Here we examine theoretical yields and review available TEA for bulk biochemical production in E. coli. In addition, we examine fermentation feedstocks and review recent strain engineering approaches to achieve industrially-relevant production, using examples for which TEA has been performed: ethanol, poly-3-hydroxybutyrate, and 1,3-propanediol.

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Notes

  1. A more complete rendering of the TEA methodology can be found in Klein-Marcuschamer et al. (2010, 2011).

  2. A demonstration plant has been built and is currently operated by Vercipia Biofuels; however it is unclear what biocatalyst they are using.

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Acknowledgments

CEV was supported by a Queensland State Government Smart Futures Fellowship and the Queensland State Government National and International Research Alliance Program. The work of DKM was partly funded by the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (http://www.jbei.org) supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, through contract DE-AC02-05CH11231 between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Claudia E. Vickers, Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer & Jens O. Krömer

  2. Joint Bioenergy Institute, 5885 Hollis St., Emeryville, CA, 94608, USA

    Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer

  3. Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer

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  1. Claudia E. Vickers
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  2. Daniel Klein-Marcuschamer
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  3. Jens O. Krömer
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Correspondence to Claudia E. Vickers.

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10529_2011_821_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Metabolic network of Escherichia coli modified from Krömer et al. (2006) by addition of respective product pathways identified in KEGG (Kanehisa and Goto 2000). Central carbon metabolism and biomass formation are given. The network is ready to be extended by new production pathways. The syntax is compatible with Metatool 5.1 (http://pinguin.biologie.uni-jena.de/bioinformatik/networks/). (PDF 52 kb)

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Vickers, C.E., Klein-Marcuschamer, D. & Krömer, J.O. Examining the feasibility of bulk commodity production in Escherichia coli . Biotechnol Lett 34, 585–596 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0821-3

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