Endocytosing Escherichia coli as a Whole-Cell Biocatalyst of Fatty Acids

Jonghyeok Shin, Jiwon Yu, Myungseo Park, Chakhee Kim, Hooyeon Kim, Yunjeong Park, Choongjin Ban, Emine Seydametova, Young Ha Song, Chul Soo Shin, Kyung Hwun Chung, Ji Min Woo, Hyunwoo Chung, Jin Byung Park, Dae Hyuk Kweon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Whole cell biocatalysts can be used to convert fatty acids into various value-added products. However, fatty acid transport across cellular membranes into the cytosol of microbial cells limits substrate availability and impairs membrane integrity, which in turn decreases cell viability and bioconversion activity. Because these problems are associated with the mechanism of fatty acid transport through membranes, a whole-cell biocatalyst that can form caveolae-like structures was generated to promote substrate endocytosis. Caveolin-1 (CAV1) expression in Escherichia coli increased both the fatty acid transport rate and intracellular fatty acid concentrations via endocytosis of the supplemented substrate. Furthermore, fatty-acid endocytosis alleviated substrate cytotoxicity in E. coli. These traits attributed to bacterial endocytosis resulted in dramatically elevated biotransformation efficiencies in fed-batch and cell-recycle reaction systems when caveolae-forming E. coli was used for the bioconversion of ricinoleic acid (12-hydroxyoctadec-9-enoic acid) to (Z)-11-(heptanoyloxy) undec-9-enoic acid. We propose that CAV1-mediated endocytosing E. coli represents a versatile tool for the biotransformation of hydrophobic substrates.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1055-1066
Number of pages12
JournalACS Synthetic Biology
Volume8
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 May 2019

Keywords

  • biotransformation
  • caveolin-1
  • endocytosis
  • fatty acid
  • heterologous caveolae

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Endocytosing Escherichia coli as a Whole-Cell Biocatalyst of Fatty Acids'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this