Utilization of biodiesel by-product as substrate for high-production of β-farnesene via relatively balanced mevalonate pathway in Escherichia coli

•An engineered E. coli strain with relatively balanced MVA pathway was constructed.•The highest production of β-farnesene to date (8.74 g/L) by E. coli was obtained.•The first report on utilization of biodiesel by-product for β-farnesene production.•β-Farnesene concentration using biodiesel by-product as substrate was 2.83 g/L.

Farnesene has been identified as suitable jet fuel substitutes and metabolic engineering for microbial production of farnesene is an alternative and attractive route. In this study, due to accumulation of toxic intermediate isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP), an engineered Escherichia coli strain harboring heterologous mevalonate pathway produced only 4.11 mg/L β-farnesene. Through higher-level expression of isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase and farnesyl diphosphate synthase to minimize the accumulated IPP, another engineered strain with relatively balanced mevalonate pathway was constructed and had the highest production of β-farnesene to date (8.74 g/L) by Escherichia coli in a lab bioreactor. Furthermore, this is the first report on utilization of biodiesel by-product (simple purification) as substrate for high-production of β-farnesene by the engineered strain optimized and β-farnesene concentration reached 2.83 g/L in a lab bioreactor. Therefore, the engineered strain optimized could be used as a platform host for high-production of other terpenoids using biodiesel by-product as substrate.

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