In vivo instability of chorismate causes substrate loss during fermentative production of aromatics.

Metabolic engineering of microbial strains to produce aromatic compounds deriving from the shikimate pathway is of great interest to the chemical industry as a more sustainable alternative for feedstock production. Chorismate is a significant intermediate in the shikimate pathway. In this study, the formation of phenylalanine and phenylpyruvate as by-products in strains engineered downstream of the chorismate node for increased aromatic production was explored in yeast fermentations.

Production of aromatics in Saccharomyces cerevisiae--a feasibility study.

Aromatics are amongst the most important bulk feedstocks for the chemical industry, however, no viable bioprocess exists today and production is still dependent on petro-chemistry. In this article the production of aromatic precursors such as p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHBA) and p-amino benzoic acid (PABA) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was evaluated using metabolic network analysis. Theoretical mass yields for PHBA and for PABA obtained by metabolic network analysis were 0.