Lycopene production from glucose, fatty acid and waste cooking oil by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli

Lycopene is an antioxidant that can be used as functional food or a high-value product for nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic applications. In this paper, the mevalonate and lycopene synthesis pathways were first built in Escherichia coli to produce lycopene from hydrophilic substrates such as glucose and glycerol. Further introducing the fatty acid transport system in the E. coli strain led to improved synthesis of lycopene from hydrophobic substrates such as fatty acids. In 1-L fed-batch bioreactors, the engineered E. coli FA03-PM produced 2.7 g/L lycopene within 40 h in fermentation co-fed with glucose and hydrolyzed waste cooking oil (WCO). This is the first study that reports high lycopene production by fermentation with fatty acids or waste cooking oils. In addition, the lycopene content in biomass reached 94 mg/g, which is among the highest levels reported so far in engineered E. coli for lycopene production. The research results will also help build a new biomanufacturing platform for making more high-value products from the common agriculture commodities, oils and fats, or their wastes.