Comparison of Glucose, Acetate and Ethanol as Carbon Resource for Production of Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate) and Other Acetyl-CoA Derivatives

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is a biodegradable and biocompatible thermoplastic, and synthesized from the central metabolite acetyl-CoA. The acetyl-CoA synthesis from glucose presents low atomic economy due to the release of CO(2) in pyruvate decarboxylation. As ethanol and acetate can be converted into acetyl-CoA directly, they were used as carbon source for PHB production in this study. The reductase mutant AdhE A267T/E568K was introduced into Escherichia coli to enable growth on ethanol, and acetate utilization was improved by overexpression of acetyl-CoA synthetase ACS. Comparison of the PHB production using glucose, ethanol or acetate as sole carbon source showed that the production and yield from ethanol was much higher than those from glucose and acetate, and metabolome analysis revealed the differences in metabolism of glucose, ethanol and acetate. Furthermore, other acetyl-CoA derived chemicals including 3-hydroxypropionate and phloroglucinol were produced from those three feedstocks, and similar results were achieved, suggesting that ethanol could be a suitable carbon source for the production of acetyl-CoA derivatives.