Key enzymes catalyzing glycerol to 1,3-propanediol

Wei Jiang; Shizhen Wang; Yuanpeng Wang; Baishan Fang

doi:10.1186/s13068-016-0473-6

Key enzymes catalyzing glycerol to 1,3-propanediol

Biotechnol Biofuels. 2016 Mar 10:9:57. doi: 10.1186/s13068-016-0473-6. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Wei Jiang¹, Shizhen Wang¹, Yuanpeng Wang², Baishan Fang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005 China ; The Key Lab for Synthetic Biotechnology of Xiamen City, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005 China.
² Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005 China.
³ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005 China ; The Key Lab for Synthetic Biotechnology of Xiamen City, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005 China ; The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005 Fujian China.

Abstract

Biodiesel can replace petroleum diesel as it is produced from animal fats and vegetable oils, and it produces about 10 % (w/w) glycerol, which is a promising new industrial microbial carbon, as a major by-product. One of the most potential applications of glycerol is its biotransformation to high value chemicals such as 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD), dihydroxyacetone (DHA), succinic acid, etc., through microbial fermentation. Glycerol dehydratase, 1,3-propanediol dehydrogenase (1,3-propanediol-oxydoreductase), and glycerol dehydrogenase, which were encoded, respectively, by dhaB, dhaT, and dhaD and with DHA kinase are encompassed by the dha regulon, are the three key enzymes in glycerol bioconversion into 1,3-PD and DHA, and these are discussed in this review article. The summary of the main research direction of these three key enzyme and methods of glycerol bioconversion into 1,3-PD and DHA indicates their potential application in future enzymatic research and industrial production, especially in biodiesel industry.

Keywords: Biocatalyst; Bioconversion; Biodiesel; GDH; GDHt; Glycerol; Industrial enzyme; Multienzyme coupling; PDOR; Renewable resources.

Publication types

Review