Metabolic Engineering toward Sustainable Production of Nylon-6

Stefan C H J Turk*, Wigard P. Kloosterman, Dennis K. Ninaber, Karin P A M Kolen, Julia Knutova, Erwin Suir, Martin Schürmann, Petronella C. Raemakers-Franken, Monika Müller, Stefaan M A De Wildeman, Leonie M. Raamsdonk, Ruud Van Der Pol, Liang Wu, Margarida F. Temudo, Rob A M Van Der Hoeven, Michiel Akeroyd, Roland E. Van Der Stoel, Henk J. Noorman, Roel A L Bovenberg, Axel C. Trefzer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Nylon-6 is a bulk polymer used for many applications. It consists of the non-natural building block 6-aminocaproic acid, the linear form of caprolactam. Via a retro-synthetic approach, two synthetic pathways were identified for the fermentative production of 6-aminocaproic acid. Both pathways require yet unreported novel biocatalytic steps. We demonstrated proof of these bioconversions by in vitro enzyme assays with a set of selected candidate proteins expressed in Escherichia coli. One of the biosynthetic pathways starts with 2-oxoglutarate and contains bioconversions of the ketoacid elongation pathway known from methanogenic archaea. This pathway was selected for implementation in E. coli and yielded 6-aminocaproic acid at levels up to 160 mg/L in lab-scale batch fermentations. The total amount of 6-aminocaproic acid and related intermediates generated by this pathway exceeded 2 g/L in lab-scale fed-batch fermentations, indicating its potential for further optimization toward large-scale sustainable production of nylon-6.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)65-73
Number of pages9
JournalACS Synthetic Biology
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2016

Keywords

  • 6-aminocaproic acid
  • adipate
  • caprolactam
  • metabolic engineering
  • nylon-6
  • α-ketopimelate

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