Genetic engineering of Escherichia coli to enhance biological production of vanillin from ferulic acid

Escherichia coli is considered a good host for the production of vanillin from phytochemicals, such as ferulic acid. A major drawback of this vanillin-producing system is the genetic instability of E. coli recombinant strains bearing genes encoding feruloyl-CoA synthetase and feruloyl-CoA hydratase/aldolase. In this work, the possibility to develop a more stable strain was explored by integrating into the E. coli chromosome the Pseudomonas fluorescens genes encoding these two enzymes. The resulting strain, named FR13, was more efficient in vanillin production than strains expressing the same genes from a low copy plasmid vector.