The chemical industry needs a paradigm shift in order to address the sustainable development challenge posed by the dwindling raw materials and the ever more polluted environment. Biocatalytic syntheses, in forms of enzymatic conversion or microbial whole-cell fermentation, are increasingly explored as the alternate platform of chemical production. Due to the fact that most of the current industrial chemicals are considered man-made, research efforts are devoted to the discovery of unknown enzymatic activities and natural pathways, or the engineering of new catalytic activities and the assembly of artificial biosynthetic routes in order to enable the biosyntheses of industrial chemicals from renewable feedstocks. Here, we report the design and implementation of an artificial biosynthetic pathway of 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PDO), an industrial bulk chemical and a natural product, from renewable feedstocks through the reduction of a common fermentation product, lactic acid. The pathway circumvents a highly cytotoxic intermediate that exists in a widely used natural pathway. We identified and characterized key enzymes that catalyzed the nonnatural step of the pathway. The pathway enables the <i>de novo </i>synthesis of optically pure 1,2-propanediol.

De novo biosynthesis of 1,2-propanediol from renewable feedstock through lactic acid

249th National Meeting (2015)

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