Establishing a growth-coupled mechanism for high-yield production of ?-arbutin from glycerol in Escherichia coli

Biodiesel production has increased significantly in recent years, leading to an increase in the production of crude glycerol. In this study, a novel growth-coupled erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P) formation strategy that can be used to produce high levels of (i-arbutin using engineered Escherichia coli and glycerol as the carbon source was developed. In the strategy, E4P formation was coupled with cell growth, and a growth-driving force made the E4P formation efficient. By applying this strategy, efficient microbial synthesis of (i-arbutin was achieved, with 7.91 g/L (i-arbutin produced in shaking flask, and 28.1 g/L produced in a fed batch fermentation with a yield of 0.20 g/g glycerol and a productivity of 0.39 g/L/h. This is the highest (i-arbutin production through microbial fermentation ever reported to date. This study may have significant implications in the large-scale production of (i-arbutin as well as other aromatic compounds of importance.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel growth-coupled strategy for the efficient production of (i-arbutin using engineered Escherichia coli and glycerol was developed. By coupling E4P formation with cell growth, high levels of (i-arbutin were achieved, with the highest production ever reported through microbial fermentation. This study has significant implications for large-scale production of (i-arbutin and other important aromatic compounds.