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Bacterial synthesis of four hydroxycinnamic acids

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Abstract

Hydroxycinnamates are a class of phenolic compounds that have a C6-C3 carbon backbone. Hydroxycinnamic acids are derived from cinnamic acid via hydroxylation or methylation and are found in foods such as pears, coffee beans, and dandelions. They are involved in protection against chemotherapy side effects and the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. We synthesized four types of hydroxycinnamates (p-coumaric acid, cinnamic acid, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid) from glucose in Escherichia coli by introducing different combination of four genes: tyrosine ammonia lyase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, S.espanaensis monooxygenase, and Oryza sativa O-methyltransferase. The final yields of hydroxycinnamic acids were increased by engineering the metabolic pathway of E. coli. Using these strategies, 100.1 mg/L p-coumaric acid, 138.2 mg/L caffeic acid, 64 mg/L ferulic acid, and 1072.3 mg/L cinnamic acid were synthesized.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (PJ00948301), the Rural Development Administration, and Priority Research Centers Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2009-0093824).

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Correspondence to Joong-Hoon Ahn.

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Dae Gyuun An and Mi Na Cha have contributed equally to this article.

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An, D.G., Cha, M.N., Nadarajan, S.P. et al. Bacterial synthesis of four hydroxycinnamic acids. Appl Biol Chem 59, 173–179 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13765-015-0137-4

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