Biocatalysis and bioprocess engineering for terpenoid production

The biomanufacturing of terpenoids is limited by the low yields of heterologously expressed biosynthetic pathway and challenges associated with recovering these products at commercial scales. To enhance the flux through methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway for terpenoid biosynthesis, I screened soil metagenomes for more active and stable orthologs of the rate-limiting enzymes. I successfully identified three entirely novel, natural fusions of IspD and IspF, one of which improved production of lycopene from 235 mg/L to 275 mg/L and production of isoprene from 3.6 mg/L to 6.3 mg/L when compared to the native enzyme overexpression. A comprehensive study of the role of the linking domain revealed the higher activity of each of the catalytic domains and the absence of substrate channeling. Moreover, the non-natural fusions of E. coli enzymes catalyzing consecutive steps were constructed. One such a fusion of IspD and IspE yielded 281 mg/L of lycopene, whereas the best performing fusion of IspE and IspF only yielded 39 mg/L of lycopene. Further investigation of the sequence of this biocatalytic cascade concluded the commencement with the activity of IspE, followed IspD and IspF suggesting the reactive plasticity in MEP pathway. I probed the promiscuous nature of terpene synthases (TSs) through the systematic study of monoterpene synthases from Picea abies in vivo and in vitro. I uncovered the influence of intracellular expression and oxygen supply on the promiscuity of TSs. Computational analysis revealed the putative roles of the amino acid residues within the active sites and their evolutionary trajectory. Finally, the fermentation of engineered E. coli strains for carene and myrcene were scaled up to 1 L and a newer technique was developed for efficient product capture using a fluidized bed capture device (FBCD) using a hydrophobic resin. The device was easy to integrate into the existing bioreactor set up. It yielded 2-fold higher carene titers and 17-fold higher myrcene titers. In conclusion, the three aspects of the terpenoid biomanufacture studied in this work address some of the biggest challenges facing the industry and lay strong foundations for commercialization of terpenoid biomanufacturing processes that employ genetically engineered microorganisms.Applied Science, Faculty ofChemical and Biological Engineering, Department ofGraduat