Effect of acetate metabolism modulation on 2'-fucosyllactose production in engineered Escherichia coli

In this study, a glucose–glycerol mixed carbon source and the deletion of the genes arcA and iclR were attempted for the first time in engineered Escherichia coli to improve 2’-FL production. The highest 2’-FL titre of 5.04 g/L, almost 1.4 times higher than that in the control strain, was obtained in the arcA mutant strain using shake-flask culture.

In addition, the arcA mutant showed a significantly reduced accumulation of acetate. However, the deletion of iclR and the double deletion of arcA/iclR provided no benefit in terms of 2’-FL biosynthesis. Overall, these results suggest that deletion of arcA could efficiently increase the 2’-FL yield in E. coli and could lay a foundation for more efficient and larger-scale production.