Engineering E. coli central metabolism for enhanced primary metabolite production

Abstract

In engineering of Escherichia coli for the production of chemicals derived from the central metabolic pathway and in using E. coli as a biocatalyst for reactions involving externally supplied specific substrates, there is a need to consider the redox balance and cofactor availability for optimization of the process. Several examples of taking into account the systems biology complexity of redox processes through consideration of gene expression effects, protein level and activity effects, and the role of small molecule effectors of enzyme activity, as well as the role of activation and deactivation of sensitive active site structures are described in the chapter. The manipulation of the availability of reduced cofactors through genetic means and the application of such altered strains for metabolic engineering purposes for the improved production of specific reduced molecules for biofuels, chiral pharmaceutical intermediates, unconjugated colored compounds, and other valuable chemicals is presented. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.