1. Academic Validation
  2. Biovalorization of lignin-derived substrates to vanillylamine via a self-sufficient amino donor and cofactor recycling whole-cell platform

Biovalorization of lignin-derived substrates to vanillylamine via a self-sufficient amino donor and cofactor recycling whole-cell platform

  • Environ Res. 2024 Oct 5;263(Pt 2):120112. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.120112.
Fakhra Liaqat 1 Mahammed Ilyas Khazi 2 Taolin Ji 3 Nouman Liaqat 4 Yilin Le 1 Khalid A Al-Ghanim 5 Muhammad Zohaib Nawaz 1 Damià Barceló 6 Daochen Zhu 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 International Joint Laboratory on Synthetic Biology and Biomass Biorefinery, Biofuels Institute, School of Emergency Management, School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment. Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China.
  • 2 International Joint Laboratory on Synthetic Biology and Biomass Biorefinery, Biofuels Institute, School of Emergency Management, School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China; Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Bursa Uludağ University, 16059, Bursa, Turkiye.
  • 3 International Joint Laboratory on Synthetic Biology and Biomass Biorefinery, Biofuels Institute, School of Emergency Management, School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China.
  • 4 Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of the Punjab, 54590, Lahore, Pakistan.
  • 5 Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
  • 6 Chemistry and Physics Department, University of Almeria, 04120, Almería, Spain.
  • 7 International Joint Laboratory on Synthetic Biology and Biomass Biorefinery, Biofuels Institute, School of Emergency Management, School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment. Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China. Electronic address: dczhucn@ujs.edu.cn.
Abstract

Lignin valorization through bioconversion to high-value chemicals is crucial for sustainable bioprocessing. Vanillin (VN), a primary lignin derivative, can be transaminated into vanillylamine (VM), a key precursor for capsaicin and pharmaceuticals. This study established a novel self-sufficient redox-complementary whole-cell system, facilitating the recycling of L-alanine and cofactors for efficient VM biosynthesis. Ammonium formate (AF) was employed as amino donor and co-substrate. Recombinant E. coli strain, co-expressing ω-transaminase (CvTA), L-alanine dehydrogenase (ALD), and formate dehydrogenase (FDH), showed higher yield in shorter reaction time compared to the strain expressing only CvTA and ALD. Intermittent feeding strategy was developed to mitigate VN cytotoxicity problem and a remarkable yield of 97.3 ± 1.0% was achieved of VM from 60 mM VN under optimized biotransamination conditions (37 °C, pH 8.0, VN:AF = 1:5, and 1.5 mM NAD+). Notably, a double-plasmid E. coli recombinant harboring CvTA, ALD, FDH, and aromatic dioxygenase (ADO) was constructed to convert isoeugenol into VM with a 73.2 ± 1.1% yield. This efficient biotransamination platform not only offers a sustainable route to VM for capsaicin production but also promotes lignin valorization for a greener bioeconomy.

Keywords

Cofactor regeneration; Isoeugenol; Lignin; Vanillin; Vanillylamine.

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