Engineering Bacteria Phospholipid Pathways for Diverse Fatty Acid Profiles (Invited Speaker)

As the major cell membrane component for almost all organisms, fatty acid (FA) phospholipid biosynthesis represents one of the most active pathways and yields energy-dense molecules that can be used as fuels and chemicals. However, FAs synthesized by common microbial species are straight, long-chain FAs, whose derived fuels and chemicals often have undesirable properties, such as poor cold-flow properties as fuels and low freezing points as lubricants, thus limiting their applications. To diversify the properties and functions of microbially-produced FAs, we engineered the E. coli phospholipid pathways to produce FAs with altered structures and drastically different FA profiles. Multiple new FA species were biosynthesized in high abundances and yields by our engineered strains, including terminally-branched FAs, internally-branched FAs, cyclo-propyl FAs, ω-hydroxyl FAs, dicarboxylic acids, etc. These greatly expanded biosynthetic capabilities and FA profiles will facilitate the renewable production of numerous chemicals for practical applications.