Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of pyrone and pyridine dicarboxylic acids

Abstract

Environmental concerns from plastic waste are driving interest in alternative monomers from bio-based sources. Pseudoaromatic dicarboxylic acids are promising alternatives with chemical structures similar to widely used petroleum-based aromatic dicarboxylic acids. However, their use in polyester synthesis has been limited due to production challenges. Here, we report the fermentative production of five pseudoaromatic dicarboxylic acids, including 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC) and pyridine dicarboxylic acids (PDCAs: 2,3-, 2,4-, 2,5-, and 2,6-PDCA), from glucose using five engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum strains. A platform C. glutamicum chassis strain was constructed by modulating the expression of nine genes involved in the synthesis and degradation pathways of precursor protocatechuate (PCA) and the glucose-uptake system. Comparative transcriptome analysis of the engineered strain against wild-type C. glutamicum identified iolE ( NCgl0160 ) as a target for PDC production. Optimized fed-batch fermentation conditions enabled the final engineered strain to produce 76.17 ± 1.24 g/L of PDC. Using this platform strain, we constructed 2,3-, 2,4-, and 2,5-PDCA-producing strains by modulating the expression of key enzymes. Additionally, we demonstrated a previously uncharacterized pathway for 2,3-PDCA biosynthesis. The engineered strains produced 2.79 ± 0.005 g/L of 2,3-PDCA, 494.26 ± 2.61 mg/L of 2,4-PDCA, and 1.42 ± 0.02 g/L of 2,5-PDCA through fed-batch fermentation. To complete the portfolio, we introduced the 2,6-PDCA biosynthetic pathway to an L-aspartate pathway–enhanced C. glutamicum strain, producing 15.01 ± 0.03 g/L of 2,6-PDCA in fed-batch fermentation. The metabolic engineering strategies developed here will be useful for the production of pseudoaromatic chemicals.