Development of 3-Hydroxypropionic Acid Inducible Biosensor in Escherichia coli

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the production of bio-based platform chemicals as environmental problems and limited fossil resources issues have been highlighted. 3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) is a valuable bio-based platform chemical for the production of many other chemicals such as acrylic acid and malonic acid in the industry. As a number of efforts have been made to produce 3-HP using metabolically engineered microorganisms, the biosensors that sense the 3-HP levels inside cells will be used as a high-throughput screening tool. In this study, a transcriptional factor, originated from a Pseudomonas species, based 3-HP inducible biosensor that reports intracellular 3-HP level was successfully constructed in Escherichia coli MG1655. This study will be the starting point for the improvement of 3-HP biosensors. Further engineering of a promoter and 5’-UTR elements of the transcriptional factor encoding gene is under progress in order to enhance promoter strength and inducibility.