Production of odd chain fatty acid derivatives in recombinant microbial cells

Abstract

Recombinant microbial cells are provided which have been engineered to produce fatty acid derivatives having linear chains containing an odd number of carbon atoms by the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway. Also provided are methods of making odd chain fatty acid derivatives using the recombinant microbial cells, and compositions comprising odd chain fatty acid derivatives produced by such methods.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A recombinant microbial cell comprising:
 (a) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having enzymatic activity effective to produce an increased amount of propionyl-CoA in the recombinant microbial cell relative to the amount of propionyl-CoA produced in a parental microbial cell lacking or having a reduced amount of said enzymatic activity, wherein said polypeptide is exogenous to the recombinant microbial cell or wherein expression of said polynucleotide is modulated in the recombinant microbial cell as compared to the expression of the polynucleotide in the parental microbial cell,   (b) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase activity that utilizes propionyl-CoA as a substrate, and   (c) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having fatty acid derivative enzyme activity,   wherein the recombinant microbial cell produces a fatty acid derivative composition comprising odd chain fatty acid derivatives when cultured in the presence of a carbon source under conditions effective to express the polynucleotides according to (a), (b), and (c), and   wherein at least 10% of the fatty acid derivatives in the fatty acid derivative composition are odd chain fatty acid derivatives.   
     
     
         2 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein at least 20% of the fatty acid derivatives in the fatty acid derivative composition are odd chain fatty acid derivatives. 
     
     
         3 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the cell produces at least 100 mg/L of odd chain fatty acid derivatives. 
     
     
         4 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein expression of the at least one polynucleotide according to (a) is modulated by overexpression of the polynucleotide in the recombinant microbial cell. 
     
     
         5 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the polynucleotide according to (a) is selected from the group consisting of:
 (i) one or more polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having aspartokinase activity, homoserine dehydrogenase activity, homoserine kinase activity, threonine synthase activity, and threonine deaminase activity;   (ii) one or more polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having (R)-citramalate synthase activity, isopropylmalate isomerase activity, and beta-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase activity; and   (iii) one or more polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having methylmalonyl-CoA mutase activity, methylmalonyl-CoA decarboxylase activity and methylmalonyl-CoA carboxyltransferase activity.   
     
     
         6 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 5 , comprising one or more polynucleotide according to (i) and one or more polynucleotide according to (ii). 
     
     
         7 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the polypeptide having β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase activity that utilizes propionyl-CoA as a substrate is exogenous to the recombinant microbial cell, and expression of a polypeptide having beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase activity endogenous to the recombinant microbial cell is attenuated. 
     
     
         8 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid derivative enzyme activity comprises thioesterase activity and the recombinant microbial cell produces a fatty acid composition comprising odd chain fatty acids,
 wherein at least 10% of the fatty acids in the composition are odd chain fatty acids.   
     
     
         9 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid derivative enzyme activity comprises ester synthase activity and the recombinant microbial cell produces a fatty ester composition comprising odd chain fatty esters,
 wherein at least 10% of the fatty esters in the composition are odd chain fatty esters.   
     
     
         10 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid derivative enzyme activity comprises fatty aldehyde biosynthesis activity and the recombinant microbial cell produces a fatty aldehyde composition comprising odd chain fatty aldehydes,
 wherein at least 10% of the fatty aldehydes in the composition are odd chain fatty aldehydes.   
     
     
         11 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid derivative enzyme activity comprises fatty alcohol biosynthesis activity and the recombinant microbial cell produces a fatty alcohol composition comprising odd chain fatty alcohols
 wherein at least 10% of the fatty alcohols in the composition are odd chain fatty alcohols.   
     
     
         12 . The recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 , wherein the fatty acid derivative enzyme activity comprises hydrocarbon biosynthesis activity and the recombinant microbial cell produces a hydrocarbon composition comprising even chain hydrocarbons,
 wherein at least 10% of the hydrocarbons in the composition are even chain hydrocarbons.   
     
     
         13 . A cell culture comprising the recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         14 . A method of making a fatty acid derivative composition comprising odd chain fatty acid derivatives, the method comprising:
 obtaining the recombinant microbial cell of  claim 1 ,   culturing the recombinant microbial cell in a culture medium containing a carbon source under conditions effective to express the polynucleotides according to (a), (b), and (c) and produce a fatty acid derivative composition comprising odd chain fatty acid derivatives wherein at least 10% of the fatty acid derivatives in the composition are odd chain fatty acid derivatives, and   optionally recovering the odd chain fatty acid derivative composition from the culture medium.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the recombinant microbial cell expresses one or more polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having a fatty acid derivative enzyme activity selected from the group consisting of:
 (1) a polypeptide having thioesterase activity;   (2) a polypeptide having decarboxylase activity;   (3) a polypeptide having carboxylic acid reductase activity;   (4) a polypeptide having alcohol dehydrogenase activity (EC 1.1.1.1);   (5) a polypeptide having aldehyde decarboxylase activity (EC 4.1.99.5);   (6) a polypeptide having acyl-CoA reductase activity (EC 1.2.1.50);   (7) a polypeptide having acyl-ACP reductase activity;   (8) a polypeptide having ester synthase activity (EC 3.1.1.67);   (9) a polypeptide having OleA activity; and   (10) a polypeptide having OleCD or OleBCD activity;   wherein the recombinant microbial cell produces a composition comprising one or more of odd chain fatty acids, odd chain fatty esters, odd chain fatty aldehydes, odd chain fatty alcohols, even chain alkanes, even chain alkenes, even chain terminal olefins, even chain internal olefins, or even chain ketones.   
     
     
         16 . A method of making a recombinant microbial cell which produces a higher titer or higher proportion of odd chain fatty acid derivatives than produced by a parental microbial cell, the method comprising:
 obtaining a parental microbial cell comprising a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase activity that utilizes propionyl-CoA as a substrate and a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having fatty acid derivative enzyme activity, and   engineering the parental microbial cell to obtain a recombinant microbial cell which produces or is capable of producing a greater amount of propionyl-CoA than the amount of propionyl-CoA produced by the parental microbial cell when cultured under the same conditions,   wherein the recombinant microbial cell produces a higher titer or higher proportion of odd chain fatty acid derivatives when cultured in the presence of a carbon source under conditions effective to express the polynucleotides, relative to the titer or proportion of odd chain fatty acid derivatives produced by the parental microbial cell cultured under the same conditions.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the step of engineering the parental microbial cell comprises:
 engineering the parental microbial cell to express polynucleotides encoding polypeptides selected from the group consisting of:   (a) polypeptides having aspartokinase activity, homoserine dehydrogenase activity, homoserine kinase activity, threonine synthase activity, and threonine deaminase activity;   (b) polypeptides having (R)-citramalate synthase activity, isopropylmalate isomerase activity, and beta-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase activity; and   (c) polypeptides having methylmalonyl-CoA mutase activity, either methylmalonyl-CoA decarboxylase activity or methylmalonyl-CoA carboxyltransferase activity, and optionally, methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase activity;   wherein at least one polypeptide according to (a), (b) or (c) is exogenous to the parental microbial cell, or wherein expression of at least one polynucleotide according to (a), (b) or (c) is modulated in the recombinant microbial cell as compared to the expression of the polynucleotide in the parental microbial cell.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the recombinant microbial cell is engineered to express an exogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase activity that utilizes propionyl-CoA as a substrate, and expression of an endogenous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase activity is attenuated. 
     
     
         19 . A method of increasing the titer or the proportion of odd chain fatty acid derivatives produced by a microbial cell, the method comprising:
 obtaining a parental microbial cell which produces fatty acid derivatives, and   engineering the parental microbial cell to obtain a recombinant microbial cell which produces or is capable of producing a greater amount of propionyl-CoA than the amount of propionyl-CoA produced by the parental microbial cell when cultured under the same conditions,   wherein the recombinant microbial cell produces a higher titer or higher proportion of odd chain fatty acid derivatives when cultured in the presence of a carbon source under conditions effective to produce propionyl-CoA and fatty acid derivatives in the recombinant microbial cell, relative to the titer or proportion of odd chain fatty acid derivatives produced by the parental microbial cell cultured under the same conditions.   
     
     
         20 . A fatty acid derivative composition produced by the method of  claim 14 .