Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for production of (2S,3S)-butane-2,3-diol from glucose

BACKGROUND: Butane-2,3-diol (2,3-BD) is a fuel and platform biochemical with various industrial applications. 2,3-BD exists in three stereoisomeric forms: (2R,3R)-2,3-BD, meso-2,3-BD and (2S,3S)-2,3-BD. Microbial fermentative processes have been reported for (2R,3R)-2,3-BD and meso-2,3-BD production. RESULTS: The production of (2S,3S)-2,3-BD from glucose was acquired by whole cells of recombinant Escherichia coli coexpressing the α-acetolactate synthase and meso-butane-2,3-diol dehydrogenase of Enterobacter cloacae subsp. dissolvens strain SDM. An optimal biocatalyst for (2S,3S)-2,3-BD production, E. coli BL21 (pETDuet–P(T7)–budB–P(T7)–budC), was constructed and the bioconversion conditions were optimized. With the addition of 10 mM FeCl(3) in the bioconversion system, (2S,3S)-2,3-BD at a concentration of 2.2 g/L was obtained with a stereoisomeric purity of 95.0 % using the metabolically engineered strain from glucose. CONCLUSIONS: The engineered E. coli strain is the first one that can be used in the direct production of (2S,3S)-2,3-BD from glucose. The results demonstrated that the method developed here would be a promising process for efficient (2S,3S)-2,3-BD production. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-015-0324-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.