Efficient production of xylitol by the integration of multiple copies of xylose reductase gene and the deletion of Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway-associated genes to enhance NADPH regeneration in Escherichia coli

Abstract Cofactor supply is a rate-limiting step in the bioconversion of xylose to xylitol. Strain WZ04 was first constructed by a novel simultaneous deletion–insertion strategy, replacing ptsG, xylAB and ptsF in wild-type Escherichia coli W3110 with three mutated xylose reductase genes (xr) from Neurospora crassa. Then, the pfkA, pfkB, pgi and/or sthA genes were deleted and replaced by xr to investigate the influence of carbon flux toward the pentose phosphate pathway and/or transhydrogenase activity on NADPH generation. The deletion of pfkA/pfkB significantly improved NADPH supply, but minimally influenced cell growth. The effects of insertion position and copy number of xr were examined by a quantitative real-time PCR and a shake-flask fermentation experiment. In a fed-batch fermentation experiment with a 15-L bioreactor, strain WZ51 produced 131.6 g L−1 xylitol from hemicellulosic hydrolysate (xylitol productivity: 2.09 g L−1 h−1). This study provided a potential approach for industrial-scale production of xylitol from hemicellulosic hydrolysate.