Deletion of a minor global regulator yieP greatly improves the tolerance of Escherichia coli to 3-hydroxypropionic acid

Abstract

3-Hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) is an important platform chemical which can be converted to many useful chemicals. The toxic effects of 3-HP on cell growth and viability is a serious challenge for its industrial biological production. In this study, a highly 3-HP tolerant strain was developed from Escherichia coli W by adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE). Genome analysis indicated that 13 genes including glpK and yieP were mutated during ALE. For the mutated genes, contribution to 3-HP tolerance was studied by multiplex automated genome engineering (MAGE). Interestingly, a nonsense mutation in yieP alone was fully responsible for the improved tolerance to 3-HP. Mutation or complete deletion of yieP conferred a similar 3-HP tolerance to other E. coli strains. The study on 3-HP tolerance mechanism conferred by ΔyieP is in progress