代谢工程改造大肠杆菌生产胸苷

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for thymidine production

摘要:

胸苷作为抗艾滋病药物(叠氮胸苷和司他夫定)的关键前体物，在医药行业具有很大的应用潜力。本研究以野生型大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli) MG1655为底盘微生物，采用系统代谢工程策略重构大肠杆菌中胸苷合成途径，构建了一株高效合成胸苷的工程菌株。首先，依次敲除deoA、tdk、udp、rihA、rihB、rihC基因，以阻断胸苷的分解途径和补救途径；随后，引入来源于枯草芽孢杆菌(Bacillus subtilis) F126的嘧啶核苷操纵子基因，以增强前体物尿苷酸合成途径代谢通量；最后，依次优化胸苷合成途径中尿苷酸激酶、核糖核苷二磷酸还原酶、胸苷酸合酶和5′-核苷酸酶的表达，以强化尿苷至胸苷合成途径代谢通量。所构建的THY6-2工程菌株在5 L分批补料发酵试验中胸苷产量为11.10 g/L、转化率为0.04 g/g葡萄糖、生产强度为0.23 g/(L‧h)。本研究构建了以葡萄糖为唯一碳源且不携带质粒的高效合成胸苷工程菌株，为其他嘧啶核苷类产品的研发提供了借鉴。

Abstract:

Thymidine, as a crucial precursor of anti-AIDS drugs (e.g., zidovudine and stavudine), has wide application potential in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, we introduced the thymidine biosynthesis pathway into the wild-type Escherichia coli MG1655 by systems metabolic engineering to improve the thymidine production in E. coli. Firstly, deoA, tdk, udp, rihA, rihB, and rihC were successively deleted to block the thymidine degradation pathway and salvage pathway in the wild-type E. coli MG1655. Then, the pyrimidine nucleoside operons from Bacillus subtilis F126 were introduced to enlarge the metabolic flux of the uridylic acid synthesis pathway. Finally, the expression of uridylate kinase, ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase, thymidine synthase, and 5′-nucleotidase in the thymidine biosynthesis pathway was optimized to enhance the metabolic flux from uridylic acid to thymidine. The engineered THY6-2 strain produced 11.10 g/L thymidine in a 5 L bioreactor with a yield of 0.04 g/g glucose and productivity of 0.23 g/(L·h). In this study, we constructed a strain that used glucose as the only carbon source for efficient production of thymidine and did not harbor plasmids, which provided a reference for the research on other pyrimidine nucleosides.