Recombinant xylose-fermenting yeast construction for the co-production of ethanol and cis,cis-muconic acid from lignocellulosic biomass

New exogenous cis,cis-muconic acid biosynthetic pathway genes were expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The xylose isomerase gene from Bacteroides valgutus and pentose phosphate pathway genes from S. cerevisiae were overexpressed in the yeast strain. The strain was further modified by the overexpression of gene Aro1 (with a stop codon of AroE) and a feedback-resistant Aro4opt mutant gene from S. cerevisiae. Under oxygen-limited conditions, it produced 65 mg/L cis,cis-muconic acid from xylose. Co-fermentation of 88 g/L glucose and 50 g/L xylose generated 54 g/L ethanol and 248 mg/L cis,cis-muconic acid. Under aerobic conditions, muconic acid titer reached 424 mg/L. With the supplement of 1 g/L catechol, 1286 mg/L muconic acid was produced. Fermentation of an oil palm empty fruit bunch hydrolysate resulted in 31.3 g/L ethanol and 53.4 mg/L muconic acid. This is the first report on the production of muconic acid from lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysate using a recombinant xylose-fermenting yeast. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd