Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia coli for the Biological Synthesis of 7-O-Xylosyl Naringenin

Flavonoids are a group of polyphenolic compounds that have been recognized as important due to their physiological and pharmacological roles and their health benefits. Glycosylation of flavonoids has a wide range of effects on flavonoid solubility, stability, and bioavailability. We previously generated the E. coli BL21 (DE3) Deltapgi host by deleting the glucose-phosphate isomerase (Pgi) gene in E. coli BL21 (DE3). This host was further engineered for whole-cell biotransformation by integration of galU from E. coli K12, and expression of calS8 (UDP-glucose dehydrogenase) and calS9 (UDP-glucuronic acid decarboxylase) from Micromonospora echinospora spp. calichensis and arGt-4 (7-O-glycosyltransferase) from Arabidopsis thaliana to form E. coli (US89Gt-4), which is expected to produce glycosylated flavonoids. To test the designed system, the engineered host was fed with naringenin as a substrate, and naringenin 7-O-xyloside, a glycosylated naringenin product, was detected. Product was verified by HPLCLC/MS and ESI-MS/MS analyses. The reconstructed host can be applied for the production of various classes of glycosylated flavonoids.