Constructing an ethanol utilization pathway in Escherichia coli to produce acetyl-CoA derived compounds

Engineering microbes to utilize non-conventional substrates could create short and efficient pathways to convert substrate into product. In this study, we designed and constructed a two-step heterologous ethanol utilization pathway (EUP) in Escherichia coli by using acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (encoded by ada) from Dickeya zeae and alcohol dehydrogenase (encoded by adh2) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This EUP can convert ethanol into acetyl-CoA without ATP consumption, and generate two molecules of NADH per molecule of ethanol. We optimized the expression of these two genes and found that ethanol consumption could be improved by expressing them in a specific order (ada-adh2) with a constitutive promoter (PgyrA). The engineered E. coli strain with EUP consumed approximately 8 g/L of ethanol in 96 h when it was used as sole carbon source. Subsequently, we combined EUP with the biosynthesis of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable polymer derived from acetyl-CoA. The engineered E. coli strain carrying EUP and PHB biosynthetic pathway produced 1.1 g/L of PHB from 10 g/L of ethanol and 1 g/L of aspartate family amino acids in 96 h. We also engineered a E. coli strain to produce 24 mg/L of prenol in an ethanol-containing medium, supporting the feasibility of converting ethanol into different classes of acetyl-CoA derived compounds. •Engineered Escherichia coli strains to grow on ethanol as sole carbon source.•Demonstrated that Ethanol was converted into acetyl-CoA through two pathways.•Converted ethanol into two products with low structural similarity.•Supplementing aspartate family amino acids improved the product formation.