P116: Engineering a novel synthetic pathway for biobutanol production in Escherichia coli using 2-ketoisovalerate as an intermediate

We engineered the novel synthetic pathway for the production of butanol in Escherichia coli by using 2-ketoisovalerate as an intermediate. Based on the previously constructed L-valine producing strain of E. coli, in which all the known negative regulations by L-valine were removed and the carbon flux towards L-valine formation was increased, the novel pathway for the biosynthesis of butanol from 2-ketoisovalerate, the direct precursor of L-valine, was further overexpressed. The resulting engineered E. coli strain was able to produce 118 mg/L butanol by microaerobic batch culture. These results suggest that an efficient production of butanol is possible by properly assembling the synthetic metabolic pathways in E. coli. [This work was supported by the Advanced Biomass R&D Center (ABC) of Korea Grant funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010-0029799). Further supports by the World Class University Program (R32-2008-000-10142-0) of the MEST were appreciated.]