Rosin, a cinnamyl alcohol glucoside, is one of the important ingredients in Rhodiola rosea, which is a valuable medicinal herb used for centuries. Rosin displayed multiple biological activities. The traditional method for producing rosin and derivatives is direct extraction from R. rosea, which suffers from limited availability of natural resources and complicated purification procedure. This work achieved de novo biosynthesis of rosin in Escherichia coli. First, a biosynthetic pathway of aglycon cinnamyl alcohol from phenylalanine was constructed. Subsequently, the UGT genes from Rhodiola sachalinensis (UGT73B6) or Arabidopsis thaliana (UGT73C5) were introduced into the above recombinant E. coli strain to produce rosin. Then the phenylalanine metabolic pathway of E. coli was optimized by genetic manipulation, and the production of rosin by the engineered E. coli reached 258.5 ± 8.8 mg/L. This study lays a significant foundation for microbial production of rosin and its derivatives using glucose as the renewable carbon source.
Keywords: E. coli; Rhodiola rosea; UGT73B6; UGT73C5; biosynthesis; cinnamyl alcohol; rosin.