Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of anthranilate from glucose and xylose.

Anthranilate and its derivatives are important basic chemicals for the synthesis of polyurethanes as well as various dyes and food additives. Today, anthranilate is mainly chemically produced from petroleum-derived xylene, but this shikimate pathway intermediate could be also obtained biotechnologically. In this study, Corynebacterium glutamicum was engineered for the microbial production of anthranilate from a carbon source mixture of glucose and xylose.

Microbial synthesis of the plant natural product precursor p-coumaric acid with Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Background: Phenylpropanoids such as p-coumaric acid represent important precursors for the synthesis of a broad range of plant secondary metabolites including stilbenoids, flavonoids, and lignans, which are of pharmacological interest due to their health-promoting properties. Although extraction from plant material or chemical synthesis is possible, microbial synthesis of p-coumaric acid from glucose has the advantage of being less expensive and more resource efficient. In this study, Corynebacterium glutamicum was engineered for the production of the plant polyphenol precursor p-coumaric acid from glucose.

Synthesis of the character impact compound raspberry ketone and additional flavoring phenylbutanoids of biotechnological interest with Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Background: The phenylbutanoid 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)butan-2-one, commonly known as raspberry ketone, is responsible for the typical scent and flavor of ripe raspberries. Chemical production of nature-identical raspberry ketone is well established as this compound is frequently used to flavor food, beverages and perfumes. However, high demand for natural raspberry ketone, but low natural abundance in raspberries, render raspberry ketone one of the most expensive natural flavoring components.