• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.789-796
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• 2000

In order to analyze the effects of tktA, $aroF^{FBR}$, and aroL expression in a tryptophan-producing Escherichia coli, a series of plasmids carrying the genes were constructed. Introduction of tktA, $aroF^{FBR}$, and aroL into the E. coli strain resulted in approximately 10-20 fold increase in the activities of transketolase, the feedback inhibition-resistant 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulsonate-7-phosphate synthase, and shikimate kinase. Expression of $aroF^{FBR}$ in the aroB mutant strain of E. coli resulted in the accumulation of 10 mM of 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulsonate-7-phosphate (DAHP) in the medium. Simultaneous expression of tktA and $aroF^{FBR}$ in the strain further increased the amount of excreted DAHP to 20 mM. In contrast, the mutant strain which has no gene introduced accumulated 0.5 mM of DAHP. However, the expression of tktA and $aroF^{FBR}$ in a tryptophan-producing E. coli strain did not lead to the increased production of tryptophan, but instead, a significant amount of shikimate, which is an intermediate in the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway, was excreted to the growth medium. Despite the fact that additional expression of shikimate kinase in the strain could possibly remove 90% of excreted shikimate to 0.1 mM, the amount of tryptophan produced was still unchanged. Removing shikimate using a cloned aroL gene caused the excretion of glutamate, which suggests disturbed central carbon metabolism. However, when cultivated in a complex medium, the strain expressing tktA, $aroF^{FBR}$, and aroL produced more tryptophan than the parental strain. These data indicate that additional rate-limiting steps are present in the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway, and the carbon flow to the terminal pathway is strictly regulated. Expressing tktA in E. coli cells appeared to impose a great metabolic burden to the cells as evidenced by retarded cell growth in the defined medium. Recombinant E. coli strains harboring plasmids which carry the tktA gene showed a tendency to segregate their plasmids almost completely within 24h.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 1994

The Escherichia coli aroA and serC genes constitute a mixed-function operon which involves in two different amino acid biosynthetic pathways. The regulation of expression of serC-aroA operon was evaluated through the use of a serC-araA-lacZ fusion plasmid pWH2. The expression of the serC-aroA operon was decreased by aromatic amino acids such as tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine. The repressible effects were diminished in E. coli tyrR of trpR strain, indicating the involvemnt of TyrR of TrpR protein in the repression. Tyrosine was competitie with cAMP in the influence on the expression of the serC-AroA operon. From these data, it was suggested that the serC-aroA operon is controlled by aromatic amino acids in a negative manner.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1370-1375
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• 2023

In this study, we aimed to enhance the accumulation of chorismate (CHR) and anthranilate (ANT), key intermediates in the shikimate pathway, by modifying a shikimate over-producing recombinant strain of Corynebacterium glutamicum [19]. To achieve this, we utilized a CRISPR-driven genome engineering approach to compensate for the deletion of shikimate kinase (AroK) as well as ANT synthases (TrpEG) and ANT phosphoribosyltransferase (TrpD). In addition, we inhibited the CHR metabolic pathway to induce CHR accumulation. Further, to optimize the shikimate pathway, we overexpressed feedback inhibition-resistant Escherichia coli AroG and AroH genes, as well as C. glutamicum AroF and AroB genes. We also overexpressed QsuC and substituted shikimate dehydrogenase (AroE). In parallel, we optimized the carbon metabolism pathway by deleting the gntR family transcriptional regulator (IolR) and overexpressing polyphosphate/ATP-dependent glucokinase (PpgK) and glucose kinase (Glk). Moreover, acetate kinase (Ack) and phosphotransacetylase (Pta) were eliminated. Through our CRISPR-driven genome re-design approach, we successfully generated C. glutamicum cell factories capable of producing up to 0.48 g/l and 0.9 g/l of CHR and ANT in 1.3 ml miniature culture systems, respectively. These findings highlight the efficacy of our rational cell factory design strategy in C. glutamicum, which provides a robust platform technology for developing high-producing strains that synthesize valuable aromatic compounds, particularly those derived from the shikimate pathway metabolites.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1305-1310
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• 2021

Shikimate is a key high-demand metabolite for synthesizing valuable antiviral drugs, such as the anti-influenza drug, oseltamivir (Tamiflu). Microbial-based strategies for shikimate production have been developed to overcome the unstable and expensive supply of shikimate derived from traditional plant extraction processes. In this study, a microbial cell factory using Corynebacterium glutamicum was designed to overproduce shikimate in a fed-batch culture system. First, the shikimate kinase gene (aroK) responsible for converting shikimate to the next step was disrupted to facilitate the accumulation of shikimate. Several genes encoding the shikimate bypass route, such as dehydroshikimate dehydratase (QsuB), pyruvate kinase (Pyk1), and quinate/shikimate dehydrogenase (QsuD), were disrupted sequentially. An artificial operon containing several shikimate pathway genes, including aroE, aroB, aroF, and aroG were overexpressed to maximize the glucose uptake and intermediate flux. The rationally designed shikimate-overproducing C. glutamicum strain grown in an optimized medium produced approximately 37.3 g/l of shikimate in 7-L fed-batch fermentation. Overall, rational cell factory design and culture process optimization for the microbial-based production of shikimate will play a key role in complementing traditional plant-derived shikimate production processes.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.169-173
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• 1990

For the overproduction of L-phenylalanine using Escherichia coli, the authors constructed various recombinant plasmids including pMW 10, pMW 11 and pMW 12. The $aroF{FR}$ and $pheA^{FR}$ genes for the production of L-phenylalanine were isolated from Escherichia coli MWEC 101-5 strains. The productivity and atability of Escherichia coli regulatory mutants containing recombinant plasmids were investigated to evaluate the efficiency of the $aroF^{FR}$ and $pheA^{FR}$ genes. The MWEC 101-5/pMW 11 strain produced 24.3g/l of L-phenylalanine while its stability was 73.8 percent. The specific activity of prephenate dehydratase in the MWEC 101-5/pMW 11 strain increased by 26-fold compared with that of Escherichia coli K-12.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.923-932
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• 2019

Current strategies of strain improvement processes are mainly focused on enhancing the synthetic pathways of the products. However, excessive metabolic flux often creates metabolic imbalances, which lead to growth retardation and ultimately limit the yield of the product. To solve this problem, we applied a dynamic regulation strategy to produce $\text\tiny{L}$-phenylalanine ($\text\tiny{L}$-Phe) in Escherichia coli. First, we constructed a series of Phe-induced promoters that exhibited different strengths through modification of the promoter region of tyrP. Then, two engineered promoters were separately introduced into a Phe-producing strain xllp1 to dynamically control the expression level of one pathway enzyme AroK. Batch fermentation results of the strain xllp3 showed that the titer of Phe reached 61.3 g/l at 48 h, representing a titer of 1.36-fold of the strain xllp1 (45.0 g/l). Moreover, the $\text\tiny{L}$-Phe yields on glucose of xllp3 (0.22 g/g) were also greatly improved, with an increase of 1.22-fold in comparison with the xllp1 (0.18 g/g). In summary, we successfully improved the titer of Phe by using dynamic regulation of one key enzyme and this strategy can be applied for improving the performance of strains producing other aromatic amino acids and derived compounds.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1442-1448
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• 2015

The flavonoid apigenin and its O-methyl derivative, genkwanin, have various biological activities and can be sourced from some vegetables and fruits. Microorganisms are an alternative for the synthesis of flavonoids. Here, to synthesize genkwanin from tyrosine, we first synthesized apigenin from p-coumaric acid using four genes (4CL, CHS, CHI, and FNS) in Escherichia coli. After optimization of different combinations of constructs, the yield of apigenin was increased from 13 mg/l to 30 mg/l. By introducing two additional genes (TAL and POMT7) into an apigenin-producing E. coli strain, we were able to synthesize 7-O-methyl apigenin (genkwanin) from tyrosine. In addition, the tyrosine content in E. coli was modulated by overexpressing aroG and tyrA. The engineered E. coli strain synthesized approximately 41 mg/l genkwanin.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.506-514
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• 2020

4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol (4-HB alcohol) is one of the major active components of Gastrodia elata Blume, with beneficial effects on neurological disorders such as headache, convulsive behavior, and dizziness. Here, we developed a metabolically engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum strain able to produce 4-HB alcohol from 4-hydroxybenzoate (4-HBA). First, the strain APS963 was obtained from the APS809 strain via the insertion of aroK from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii into the NCgl2922-deleted locus. As carboxylic acid reductase from Nocardia iowensis catalyzes the reduction of 4HBA to 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (4-HB aldehyde), we then introduced a codon-optimized car gene into the genome of APS963, generating the GAS177 strain. Then, we deleted creG coding for a putative short-chain dehydrogenase and inserted ubiCpr encoding a product-resistant chorismate-pyruvate lyase into the pcaHG-deleted locus. The resulting engineered GAS355 strain accumulated 2.3 g/l 4-HB alcohol with 0.32 g/l 4-HBA and 0.3 g/l 4-HB aldehyde as byproducts from 8% glucose after 48 h of culture.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.172-175
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• 1997

Transgenic hybrid poplar subclones containing herbicide glyphosate resistant gene (aroA) were treated with ozone at the concentration of 100 nL L$^{-1}$ for 6 hr for 5 consecutive days. The foreign gene expression in leaves of all treated plants was reduced both at transcriptional and translational levels confirmed by Northern and Western blot analysis, respectively, as compared to non-treated control plants. These results indicated that the expression of foreign gene in transgenic plants could be affected by the environmental stresses. Thus, the performance of transgenic plants cultivated on field conditions may be lower than they are expected.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.1109-1117
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• 2014

Chlorogenic acid and hydroxylcinnamoyl shikimates are major dietary phenolics as well as antioxidants, with recently discovered biological, activities including protection against chemotheraphy side effects and prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Certain fruits and vegetables produce these compounds, although a microbial system can also be utilized for synthesis of chlorogenic acid and hydroxylcinnamoyl shikimates. In this study, we engineered Escherichia coli to produce chlorogenic acid and p-coumaroyl shikimates from glucose. For the synthesis of chlorogenic acid, two E. coli strains were used; one strain for the synthesis of caffeic acid from glucose and the other strain for the synthesis of chlorogenic acid from caffeic acid and quinic acid. The final yield of chlorogenic acid using this approach was approximately 78 mg/l. To synthesize p-coumaroyl shikimates, wild-type E. coli as well as several mutants were tested. Mutant E. coli carrying deletions in three genes (tyrR, pheA, and aroL) produced 236 mg/l of p-coumaroyl shikimates.