Microorganisms and methods for the biological production of ethylene glycol
AssigneeLanzaTech, Inc.
InventorsMichael Koepke, Rasmus Jensen
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Abstract
The invention provides genetically engineered microorganisms and methods for the biological production of ethylene glycol and precursors of ethylene glycol. In particular, the microorganism of the invention produces ethylene glycol or a precursor of ethylene glycol through one or more of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate, oxaloacetate, citrate, malate, and glycine. The invention further provides compositions comprising ethylene glycol or polymers of ethylene glycol such as polyethylene terephthalate.
Claims18
A genetically engineered carboxydotrophic acetogenic microorganism capable of producing ethylene glycol or a precursor of ethylene glycol from a gaseous substrate, wherein the microorganism comprises a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous enzyme capable of converting glycolate to glycolaldehyde and one or more of:
- i) a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous enzyme capable of converting oxaloacetate to citrate;
- ii) a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous enzyme capable of converting glycine to glyoxylate;
- and
- iii) a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous enzyme capable of converting iso-citrate to glyoxylate, wherein:
- a) the heterologous enzyme capable of converting oxaloacetate to citrate is a citrate [Si]-synthase having the EC number 2.3.3.1, an ATP citrate synthase having the EC number 2.3.3.8;
- or a citrate (Re)-synthase having the EC number 2.3.3.3;
- b) the heterologous enzyme capable of converting glycine to glyoxylate is an alanine-glyoxylate transaminase having the EC number 2.6.1.44, a serine-glyoxylate transaminase having the EC number 2.6.1.45, a serine-pyruvate transaminase having the EC number 2.6.1.51, a glycine-oxaloacetate transaminase having the EC number 2.6.1.35, a glycine transaminase having the EC number 2.6.1.4, an alanine dehydrogenase having the EC number 1.4.1.1, or a glycine dehydrogenase having the EC number 1.4.2.1;
- and/or
- c) the heterologous enzyme capable of converting iso-citrate to glyoxylate is an isocitrate lyase having the EC number 4.1.3.1, and wherein the heterologous enzyme capable of converting glycolate to glycolaldehyde is a glycolaldehyde dehydrogenase having the EC number 1.2.1.21, a lactaldehyde dehydrogenase having the EC number 1.2.1.22, a succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase having the EC number 1.2.1.24, a 2,5-dioxovalerate dehydrogenase having the EC number 1.2.1.26, a betaine-aldehyde dehydrogenase having the EC number 1.2.1.8, or an aldehyde ferredoxin oxidoreductase having the EC number 1.2.7.5.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.