Microorganisms and methods for the biosynthesis of propylene
The invention provides non-naturally occurring microbial organisms having a propylene pathway. The invention additionally provides methods of using such organisms to produce propylene.
1. A non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a propylene pathway and comprising at least two exogenous nucleic acids encoding propylene pathway enzymes expressed in a sufficient amount to produce propylene, wherein said propylene pathway comprises an enzyme that converts 2-ketoglutarate to 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate and an enzyme that converts 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate to propylene, wherein said enzyme that converts 2-ketoglutarate to 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate is a methyltransferase, and wherein said enzyme that converts 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate to propylene is an ethylene forming enzyme, wherein the organism produces propylene.
2. The non-naturally occurring microbial organism of claim 1 , wherein said at least two exogenous nucleic acids are heterologous nucleic acids.
3. The non-naturally occurring microbial organism of claim 1 , wherein said non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.
4. The non-naturally occurring microbial organism of claim 1 , wherein said ethylene forming enzyme is selected from the organisms Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola PK2, Pseudomonas syringae pv. Pisi, Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea and Ralstonia solanacearum.
5. The non-naturally occurring microbial organism of claim 1 , wherein said methyltransferase is selected from the organisms Streptomyces coelicolor, Streptomyces roseosporus and Streptomyces fradiae.
6. A medium comprising:
a non-naturally occurring microbial organism having a propylene pathway and comprising at least two exogenous nucleic acids encoding propylene pathway enzymes expressed in a sufficient amount to produce propylene, wherein said propylene pathway comprises an enzyme that converts 2-ketoglutarate to 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate and an enzyme that converts 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate to propylene, wherein said enzyme that converts 2-ketoglutarate to 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate is a methyltransferase, and wherein said enzyme that converts 3-methyl-2-ketoglutarate to propylene is an ethylene forming enzyme; and propylene.
7. A method for producing propylene, comprising culturing the non-naturally occurring microbial organism of claim 1 under conditions and for a sufficient period of time to produce propylene and separating the propylene from other components in the culture.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said non-naturally occurring microbial organism is in a substantially anaerobic culture medium.
9. The non-naturally occurring microbial organism of claim 1 , wherein said wherein said microbial organism is a species of bacteria, yeast, or fungus.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the separating
comprises extraction, continuous liquid-liquid extraction, pervaporation, membrane filtration, membrane separation, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, distillation, crystallization, centrifugation, extractive filtration, ion exchange chromatography, absorption chromatography, or ultrafiltration.