Project dates: 01/10/2010 - 30/09/2027
Most bacteria utilize the MEP pathway to produce their essential and non-essential isoprenoids. However, in most cases the amount of these compounds that is required to support healthy life of the microbes is rather low and therefore the pathway has evolved into a highly regulated metabolic pathway designed to prevent overaccumulation of potentially toxic intermediates. This has resulted in multiple layers of regulation at virtually every step of the pathway. Ultimately, for metabolic engineering, this means that engineering of the MEP pathway in living microbes is extremely challenging. Despite this, the MEP pathway is theoretically superior compared to the MVA pathway for production of industrial isoprenoids.
An alternative approach to avoid all this regulation and achieve the theoretical yields is the production of isoprenoids in a cell-free system. This new approach allows the rational balancing of enzyme ratios as well as to avoid the accumulation of undesired intermediates exerting regulatory constraints along the pathway.
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