High isoprenoid flux Escherichia coli as a host for carotenoids production.

A noncarotenogenic microbe E. coli was engineered for high production of carotenoids. To increase the isoprenoid flux, the chromosomal native promoters of the rate-controlling steps (dxs, idi and ispDispF) in the isoprenoid pathway were replaced with a strong bacteriophage T5 promoter (P(T5)) by using the λ-Red recombinase system in combination with the Flp/FRT site-specific recombination system for marker excision and P1 transduction for gene trait stacking. The resulting high isoprenoid flux E. coli can be used as a starting strain to produce various carotenoids by introducing heterologous carotenoid genes. In this study, the high isoprenoid flux E. coli was transformed with a plasmid carrying the β-carotene biosynthetic genes from Pantoea stewartii for β-carotene production.