IP Library Granted Patent US 12,234,463
Granted Patent B2
US 12,234,463 · App. 17/255,352 · Granted Feb 25, 2025

Engineered microorganisms with G3P → 3PG enzyme and/or fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase including those having synthetic or enhanced methylotrophy

Inventors: Harish Nagarajan (San Diego, CA); Tae Hoon Yang (San Diego, CA); Ali Khodayari (San Diego, CA)
Assignee: Genomatica, Inc.
C12N15/52C12N9/0008C12N9/16C12N9/88C12N9/90C12P5/007C12P5/026C12P7/16C12P7/18C12P7/24C12P7/42C12P7/46C12P7/6409C12P13/001C12P13/005C12Y102/01012C12Y301/03011C12Y401/02009C12Y401/02043C12Y503/01027
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,234,463
App. No.
17/255,352
Granted
Feb 25, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Described herein are engineered cells including ones having synthetic methylotrophy which include an NADH-dependent enzyme capable of converting G3P to 3PG (e.g., B. methanolicus gapN) and/or fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, along with hexulose-6-phosphate synthase, 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase, a phosphoketolase, or a combination thereof. Engineered cells of the disclosure beneficially maintain adequate pool sizes of phosphorylated C3 and/or C4 compounds, and/or provide increased levels of NADPH. As such, the modifications allow for the generation of C6 compounds from C1 (e.g., a methanol feedstod) and C5 compounds, the regeneration of C5 compounds from C6 compounds by carbon rearrangement, and an improved balance between regeneration of C5 compounds and lower glycolysis. In turn, this allows the engineered microorganism to generate sufficient quantities of metabolic precursors (e.g., acetyl-CoA) which can be used in a bioproduct pathway, and the engineered cells can include further modifications to those pathway enzymes allowing for production of a desired bioproduct.

Claims (19)

1. An engineered microorganism having synthetic or enhanced methylotrophy comprising:

exogenous enzyme A that is a NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase having at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:11, wherein said exogenous enzyme A is capable of converting glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) to 3-phosphoglycerate (3PG) and capable of reducing NADP to NADPH; and

an exogenous enzyme B which is (bi) a phosphoketolase, (bii) a hexulose-6-phosphate synthase, (biii) 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase, or any combination of (bi), (bii) and (biii).

2. The engineered microorganism of claim 1 comprising the exogenous enzyme A, and the (bi) exogenous phosphoketolase, and optionally the (bii) exogenous hexulose-6-phosphate synthase, and the (biii) exogenous 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase.

3. The engineered microorganism of claim 1 wherein the phosphoketolase is:

(1) an exogenous fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase and the microorganism further comprises (a) a phosphotransacetylase, or (b) an acetyl-CoA transferase, an acetyl-CoA synthetase, or an acetyl-CoA ligase,

(2) an exogenous xylulose-5-phosphate phosphoketolase and the engineered microorganism further comprises (a) a phosphotransacetylase, or (b1) an acetate kinase deletion and (b2) an acetyl-CoA transferase, an acetyl-CoA synthetase, or an acetyl-CoA ligase, or

both (1) and (2).

4. The engineered microorganism of claim 1 , wherein the exogenous enzyme B comprises hexulose-6-phosphate synthase having at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2 ( Bacillus methanolicus MGA HPS).

5. The engineered microorganism of claim 1 further comprising a NAD + -dependent methanol dehydrogenase (MDH).

6. The engineered microorganism of claim 1 which is bacteria, fungi, or yeast.

7. The engineered microorganism of claim 6 that is Escherichia, Corynebacterium, Bacillus, Ralstonia, Staphylococcus, Pichia or Saccharomyces , wherein the engineered microorganism is optionally Escherichia coli.

8. A method for growing a non-natural microbial organism comprising culturing the engineered microorganism of claim 1 in a medium comprising carbon-containing feedstock that comprises methanol.

9. The engineered microorganism of claim 1 wherein exogenous enzyme A has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:11.

10. An engineered microorganism having synthetic or enhanced methylotrophy comprising:

exogenous enzyme A that is a NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase having at least 85% sequence identity to one of the following amino acid sequences: SEQ ID NO:12, SEQ ID NO: 13, SEQ ID NO:14, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 16, SEQ ID NO:17, SEQ ID NO:18, SEQ ID NO: 19, SEQ ID NO:20, SEQ ID NO:21, SEQ ID NO:22, SEQ ID NO:23, SEQ ID NO:24, SEQ ID NO:25, and SEQ ID NO:26, wherein said exogenous enzyme A is capable of converting glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) to 3-phosphoglycerate (3PG) and capable of reducing NADP to NADPH; and

an exogenous enzyme B which is (bi) a phosphoketolase, (bii) a hexulose-6-phosphate synthase, (biii) 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase, or any combination of (bi), (bii) and (biii).

11. The engineered microorganism of claim 10 wherein exogenous enzyme A has at least 90% sequence identity to one of SEQ ID NOs: 12-26.

12. The engineered microorganism of claim 1 wherein exogenous enzyme B which is (bi) the phosphoketolase comprises one of the following amino acid sequences: SEQ ID NO:27, SEQ ID NO:28, SEQ ID NO:29, SEQ ID NO:30, SEQ ID NO:31, SEQ ID NO:32, SEQ ID NO:33, or SEQ ID NO: 34.

Assignments (4)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 10, 2026
From: GENOMATICA, INC.
To: AGAIN BIO APS
Reel/Frame 074708/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2025
From: GENOMATICA, INC.
To: NOVO HOLDINGS A/S, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 073915/0027 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 2, 2025
From: GENOMATICA, INC.
To: OXFORD FINANCE LLC
Reel/Frame 071471/0770 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 22, 2020
From: NAGARAJAN, HARISH; YANG, TAE HOON; KHODAYARI, ALI
To: GENOMATICA, INC.
Reel/Frame 054733/0438 →