Metabolic engineering of Bacillus subtilis for production of para-aminobenzoic acid - unexpected importance of carbon source is an advantage for space application.

ABSTRACT: High-strength polymers, such as aramid fibres, are important materials in space technology. To obtain these materials in remote locations, such as Mars, biological production is of interest. The aromatic polymer precursor para-aminobenzoic acid (pABA) can be derived from the shikimate pathway through metabolic engineering of Bacillus subtilis, an organism suited for space synthetic biology. Our engineering strategy included repair of the defective indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase (trpC), knockout of one chorismate mutase isozyme (aroH) and overexpression of the aminodeoxychorismate synthase (pabAB) and aminodeoxychorismate lyase (pabC) from the bacteria Corynebacterium callunae and Xenorhabdus bovienii respectively. Further, a fusion-protein enzyme (pabABC) was created for channelling

SUBMITTER: Averesch NJH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6559200 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature