Balancing the AspC and AspA Pathways of Escherichia coli by Systematic Metabolic Engineering Strategy for High-Efficient l-Homoserine Production

Abstract

L-Homoserine is a promising C4 platform compound used in the agricultural, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Numerous works have been conducted to engineer Escherichia coli to be an excellent L-homoserine producer, but it is still unable to meet the industrial-scale demand. Herein, we successfully engineered a plasmid-free and noninducible E. coli strain with highly efficient L-homoserine production through balancing AspC and AspA synthesis pathways. First, an initial strain was constructed by increasing the accumulation of the precursor oxaloacetate and attenuating the organic acid synthesis pathway. To remodel the carbon flux toward L-aspartate, a balanced route prone to high yield based on TCA intensity regulation was designed. Subsequently, the main synthetic pathway and the cofactor system were strengthened to reinforce the L-homoserine synthesis. Ultimately, under two-stage DO control, strain HSY43 showed 125.07 g/L L-homoserine production in a 5 L fermenter in 60 h, with a yield of 0.62 g/g glucose and a productivity of 2.08 g/L/h. The titer, yield, and productivity surpassed the highest reported levels for plasmid-free strains in the literature. The strategies adopted in this study can be applied to the production of other L-aspartate family amino acids.