High-level and -yield production of L-leucine in engineered Escherichia coli by multistep metabolic engineering

L-leucine is an essential amino acid widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries. However, the relatively low production efficiency limits its large-scale application. In this study, we rationally developed an efficient L-leucine-producing Escherichia coli strain. Initially, the L-leucine synthesis pathway was enhanced by overexpressing feedback-resistant 2-isopropylmalate synthase and acetohydroxy acid synthase both derived from Corynebacterium glutamicum, along with two other native enzymes. Next, the pyruvate and acetyl-CoA pools were enriched by deleting competitive pathways, employing the nonoxidative glycolysis pathway, and dynamically modulating the citrate synthase activity, which significantly promoted the L-leucine production and yield to 40.69 g/L and 0.30 g/g glucose, respectively. Then, the redox flux was improved by substituting the native NADPH-dependent acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase, branched chain amino acid transaminase, and glutamate dehydrogenase with their NADH-dependent equivalents. Finally, L-leucine efflux was accelerated by precise overexpression of the exporter and deletion of the transporter. Under fed-batch conditions, the final strain LXH-21 produced 63.29 g/L of L-leucine, with a yield and productivity of 0.37 g/g glucose and 2.64 g/(L h), respectively. To our knowledge, this study achieved the highest production efficiency of L-leucine to date. The strategies presented here will be useful for engineering E. coli strains for producing L-leucine and related products on an industrial scale.