Microbially produced fatty acids are potential precursors to high-energy-density biofuels, including alkanes and alkyl ethyl esters, by either catalytic conversion of free fatty acids (FFAs) or enzymatic conversion of acyl-acyl carrier protein or acyl-coenzyme A intermediates. Metabolic engineering efforts aimed at overproducing FFAs in Escherichia coli have achieved less than 30% of the maximum theoretical yield on the supplied carbon source. In this work, the viability, morphology, transcript levels, and protein levels of a strain of E. coli that overproduces medium-chain-length FFAs was compared to an engineered control strain. By early stationary phase, an 85% reduction in viable cell counts and exacerbated loss of inner membrane integrity were observed in the FFA-overproducing strain. These effects were enhanced in strains endogenously producing FFAs compared to strains exposed to exogenously fed FFAs. Under two sets of cultivation conditions, longchain unsaturated fatty acid content greatly increased, and the expression of genes and proteins required for unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis were significantly decreased. Membrane stresses were further implicated by increased expression of genes and proteins of the phage shock response, the MarA/Rob/SoxS regulon, and the nuo and cyo operons of aerobic respiration. Gene deletion studies confirmed the importance of the phage shock proteins and Rob for maintaining cell viability; however, little to no change in FFA titer was observed after 24 h of cultivation. The results of this study serve as a baseline for future targeted attempts to improve FFA yields and titers in E. coli.Microbially derived free fatty acids (FFAs) are attractive intermediates for producing a wide range of high-energy-density biofuels from sustainable carbon sources, such as biomass (34). FFAs can be extracted from culture medium and catalytically converted to esters or alkanes (48, 55). Alternatively, enzymatic pathways exist for intracellular conversion to esters (42, 81), olefins (10, 59, 75), alkanes (78), or fatty aldehydes and fatty alcohols (22,81,82). These pathways can either be exploited in their native host or heterologously expressed in a genetically pliable microorganism (3). The physical and chemical properties of the resulting products are dependent on chain length and hydrophobicity; however, medium-chainlength (8-to 14-carbon) methyl esters, olefins, and alkanes exhibit many properties analogous to those of diesel and jet fuel and are therefore potential drop-in replacements (44,61).Several studies have demonstrated FFA overproduction in Escherichia coli (19,48,52,81,83). In each, the key strain modifications included overexpression of one or more cytosolic acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterases and deletion of fadD, or both fadD and fadE, which encode an acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) synthetase and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, respectively. Overexpression of an acyl-ACP thioesterase depletes the level of acyl-ACP intermediates, which inhibit via feedback enzymes of fatty acid bi...

bEscherichia coli has been used as a platform host for studying the production of free fatty acids (FFA) and other energy-dense compounds useful in biofuel applications. Most of the FFA produced by E. coli are found extracellularly. This finding suggests that a mechanism for transport across the cell envelope exists, yet knowledge of proteins that may be responsible for export remains incomplete. Production of FFA has been shown to cause cell lysis, induce stress responses, and impair basic physiological processes. These phenotypes could potentially be diminished if efflux rates were increased. Here, a total of 15 genes and operons were deleted and screened for their impact on cell viability and titer in FFA-producing E. coli. Deletions of acrAB and rob and, to a lower degree of statistical confidence, emrAB, mdtEF, and mdtABCD reduced multiple measures of viability, while deletion of tolC nearly abolished FFA production. An acrAB emrAB deletion strain exhibited greatly reduced FFA titers approaching the tolC deletion phenotype. Expression of efflux pumps on multicopy plasmids did not improve endogenous FFA production in an acrAB ؉ strain, but plasmid-based expression of acrAB, mdtEF, and an mdtEF-tolC artificial operon improved the MIC of exogenously added decanoate for an acrAB mutant strain. The findings suggest that AcrAB-TolC is responsible for most of the FFA efflux in E. coli, with residual activity provided by other resistance-nodulation-cell division superfamily-type efflux pumps, including EmrAB-TolC and MdtEF-TolC. While the expression of these proteins on multicopy plasmids did not improve production over the basal level, their identification enables future engineering efforts.

Summary Small protein ligands can provide superior physiological distribution versus antibodies and improved stability, production, and specific conjugation. Systematic evaluation of the Protein Data Bank identified a scaffold to push the limits of small size and robust evolution of stable, high-affinity ligands: 45-residue T7 phage gene 2 protein (Gp2) contains an α-helix opposite a β-sheet with two adjacent loops amenable to mutation. De novo ligand discovery from 108 mutants and directed evolution towards four targets yielded target-specific binders with affinities as strong as 200 ±100 pM, Tm’s from 65 ±3 °C to 80 ±1 °C, and retained activity after thermal denaturation. For cancer targeting, a Gp2 domain for epidermal growth factor receptor was evolved with 18 ±8 nM affinity, receptor-specific binding, and high thermal stability with refolding. The efficiency of evolving new binding function and the size, affinity, specificity, and stability of evolved domains render Gp2 a uniquely effective ligand scaffold.

Engineered protein ligands are used for molecular therapy, diagnostics, and industrial biotechnology. The Gp2 domain is a 45-amino acid scaffold that has been evolved for specific, high-affinity binding to multiple targets by diversification of two solvent-exposed loops. Inspired by sitewise enrichment of select amino acids, including cysteine pairs, in earlier Gp2 discovery campaigns, we hypothesized that the breadth and efficiency of de novo Gp2 discovery will be aided by sitewise amino acid constraint within combinatorial library design. We systematically constructed eight libraries and comparatively evaluated their efficacy for binder discovery via yeast display against a panel of targets. Conservation of a cysteine pair at the termini of the first diversified paratope loop increased binder discovery 16-fold ( p < 0.001). Yet two other libraries with conserved cysteine pairs, within the second loop or an interloop pair, did not aid discovery thereby indicating site-specific impact. Via a yeast display protease resistance assay, Gp2 variants from the loop one cysteine pair library were 3.3 ± 2.1-fold ( p = 0.005) more stable than nonconstrained variants. Sitewise constraint of noncysteine residues-guided by previously evolved binders, natural Gp2 homology, computed stability, and structural analysis-did not aid discovery. A panel of binders to programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), a key target in cancer immunotherapy, were discovered from the loop 1 cysteine constraint library. Affinity maturation via loop walking resulted in strong, specific cellular PD-L1 affinity ( K = 6-9 nM).