Enhanced glyoxylate shunt for efficient production of C4 derivatives using fatty acids feedstocks

Abstract Biosynthesis of TCA cycle-derived C4 chemicals through glyoxylate shunt is an attractive metabolic route because it can be drived by TCA-glyoxylate cycle force under aerobic conditions. However, yield of this route is low with at least 1/3 carbon loss from glucose. FAs could sufficiently provide acetyl-CoA by β-oxidation without carbon loss and directly enter the TCA-glyoxylate cycle, which is acknowledged as a promising alternative feedstock. Here β-alanine was selected as the target TCA cycle-derived chemical, of which the theoretical yield is 1.391 g/g FAs, much higher than that of glucose(0.49 g/g). By adopting multi-metabolic engineering strategies and relieving the active oxygen damage caused by FAs utilization, β-alanine production reached 78.05 g/L with a yield of 1.2 g/g, about 86% of theoretical yield. Our study establish a promising bioproduction route of β-alanine from waste FAs (such as gutter oil, palm fatty acid distillate etc.), and more importantly, provide an efficient platform for TCA cycle-derived C4 chemicals biosynthesis.