2-04: Building Optimal Modular Microbial Cell Factories for Combinatorial Biosynthesis of Bioesters

Relevant hosts such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevesiae are commonly engineered and optimized to produce target products with different genetic modifications. An engineered host that is optimized to produce one target product may not be suitable to function as an optimal host to efficiently produce other target compounds. To address this bottleneck, we have applied the metabolic pathway analysis tool based on elementary mode analysis to design an optimal modular cell that can metabolically couple with a diverse class of chemicals- and biofuels-producing pathways as exchangeable production modules to efficiently produce a diverse combinatorial set of chemicals and biofuels. We will present the design, construction, and characterization of optimal modular E. coli cell factories assembled from an optimal modular cell and interchangeable production modules to produce a diverse combinatorial spectrum of bioesters under anaerobic conditions that can be used as fragrances, flavors, solvents, and biodiesels.