Adaptation of Enzymes Involved in the Valine Pathway for the Production of Methacrylate Intermediates

Methacrylate (MA) is an organic compound and is produced industrially on a large scale as a precursor. Over three million tons of MA are produced annually. MAs have numerous applications, including the manufacture of the acrylate polymers with trade names such as Lucite and Plexiglas. They can also be used as the monomer resin in windscreen repair kits, bone cement for fixing prosthetic devices in orthopaedic surgery. Currently MAs are mainly prepared synthetically by using toxic chemical agents, such as the extremely hazardous substance acetone cyanohydrin and sulphuric acids. Therefore, there is an undiminishing need to allow a safer and greener synthetic strategy in industry, particularly under mild conditions. In this respect, microbial fermentation and synthetic biology approaches to produce MAs or derivatives is an attractive option. In this project, we are aiming at manipulating key enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of L-valine, the important primary metabolism to produce MA intermediate which can be readily converted into MA under mild conditions.

The project directly addresses the industrial needs and will allow the PhD student to be immersed with a multidisciplinary training, including chemical synthesis, enzymology, molecular biology, synthetic biology, biotransformation and industrial biotechnology.