Biosynthesis of commodity chemicals from oil palm empty fruit bunch lignin

Abstract

The present invention relates to the metabolic engineering of a microbial host for the synthesis of value-added products from oil palm empty fruit brunches (OPEFBs). In one embodiment, the genetically engineered microorganism is Escherichia coli comprising a metabolic pathway consisting of 9 enzymes (11 genes) to utilize depolymerized lignin, namely vanillin, p-coumaric acid, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid and ferulic acid, to produce β-ketoadipic acid, which can be subsequently converted into commercially important derivatives such as adipic acid and levulinic acid. The enzymes are feruloyl-CoA synthetase (fcs), enoyl-CoA hydratase (ech), vanillin dehydrogenase (vdh), vanillate O-demethylase (vanA; vanA and vanB), p-hydroxy benzoate hydroxylase (pobA), protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase {pcaGH; pcaG and pcaH), 3-carboxy-cis, cis-muconate cycloisomerase (pcaB), 4-carboxymuconolactone decarboxylase (pcaC), and β-ketoadipate enol-lactone hydrolase (pcaD).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.