Lycopene production in recombinant strains of Escherichia coli is improved by knockout of the central carbon metabolism gene coding for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase

Genetic manipulation was undertaken in order to understand the mechanism involved in the heterologous synthesis of lycopene in Escherichia coli. Knockout of the central carbon metabolic gene zwf (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) resulted in the enhancement of lycopene production (above 130 % relative to control). The amplification and overexpression of rate-limiting steps encoded by idi (isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase), dxs (1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase) and ispDF (4-diphosphocytidyl-2C-methyl-d-erythritol synthase and 2C-methyl-d-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate synthase) genes improved lycopene synthesis from 0.89 to 5.39 mg g(-1) DCW. The combination of central metabolic genes knockout with the amplification of MEP pathway genes yielded best amounts of lycopene (6.85-7.55 mg g(-1) DCW). Transcript profiling revealed that idi and dxs were up-regulated in the zwf knock-out strain, providing a plausible explanation for the increase in lycopene yield observed in this strain. An increase in precursor availability might also have contributed to the improved lycopene production.