abstract

• Background: To attain a sustainable bioeconomy, fuel, or valuable product, production must use biomass as substrate. Starch is one of the most abundant biomass resources and is present as waste or as a food and agroindustry by-product. Unfortunately, Escherichia coli, one of the most widely used microorganisms in biotechnological processes, cannot use starch as a carbon source.Results: We engineered an E. coli strain capable of using starch as a substrate. The genetic design employed the native capability of the bacterium to use maltodextrins as a carbon source plus expression and secretion of its endogenous α-amylase, AmyA, in an adapted background. Biomass production improved using 35%25 dissolved oxygen and pH 7.2 in a controlled bioreactor.Conclusion: The engineered E. coli strain can use starch from the milieu and open the possibility of optimize the process to use agroindustrial wastes to produce biofuels and other valuable chemicals. © 2014 Rosales-Colunga and Martínez-Antonio; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

authors

• Martínez-Antonio A.
• Rosales Colunga Luis Manuel

publication date

• 2014-01-01

published in

• Microbial Cell Factories  Journal

keywords

• Adaptive strain; Amylase; Bacteria; E. coli; Maltodextrins; Synthetic biology amylase; amylopectin; biofuel; dissolved oxygen; glucose; maltodextrin; maltose; starch; sucrose; article; Bacillus megaterium; bacterial growth; biomass production; bioreactor; carbon source; controlled study; Escherichia coli K 12; high performance liquid chromatography; nonhuman; pH; synthetic biology; Bacteria (microorganisms); Escherichia coli; alpha-Amylases; Biomass; Bioreactors; Escherichia coli K12; Escherichia coli Proteins; Genetic Engineering; Starch

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1186/1475-2859-13-74

PubMed ID

• 24886307

start page

end page

volume

• 13

issue

• 1