生物谷報(bào)道：“高級(jí)”醇類作為生物燃料比乙醇有優(yōu)勢(shì),，因?yàn)樗鼈兡芰棵芏雀摺⑽愿停?ldquo;支鏈”醇類比直鏈醇類有更高辛烷值,。過去,，一直無法用原生微生物來生物合成這些醇類。現(xiàn)在,，研究人員通過基因工程手段對(duì)大腸桿菌進(jìn)行改造,，已經(jīng)可以用它們來從葡萄糖生產(chǎn)高級(jí)醇（包括異丁醇、1-丁醇和2-苯乙醇）,。該方法涉及對(duì)氨基酸生物合成通道中的中間體進(jìn)行分流,，來合成想要的醇類，它可幫助通過微生物發(fā)酵來大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)生物燃料,。
生物谷推薦英文原文：
Nature 451, 86-89 (3 January 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature06450; Received 4 May 2007; Accepted 2 November 2007
Non-fermentative pathways for synthesis of branched-chain higher alcohols as biofuels
Shota Atsumi1, Taizo Hanai1 & James C. Liao1,2
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
UCLA-DOE Insitute for Genomics and Proteomics, University of California, Los Angeles, 5531 Boelter Hall, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Correspondence to: James C. Liao1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.C.L. (Email: [email protected]).
Global energy and environmental problems have stimulated increased efforts towards synthesizing biofuels from renewable resources1, 2, 3. Compared to the traditional biofuel, ethanol, higher alcohols offer advantages as gasoline substitutes because of their higher energy density and lower hygroscopicity. In addition, branched-chain alcohols have higher octane numbers compared with their straight-chain counterparts. However, these alcohols cannot be synthesized economically using native organisms. Here we present a metabolic engineering approach using Escherichia coli to produce higher alcohols including isobutanol, 1-butanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-phenylethanol from glucose, a renewable carbon source. This strategy uses the host's highly active amino acid biosynthetic pathway and diverts its 2-keto acid intermediates for alcohol synthesis. In particular, we have achieved high-yield, high-specificity production of isobutanol from glucose. The strategy enables the exploration of biofuels beyond those naturally accumulated to high quantities in microbial fermentation.
