Production of vanillin by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli

E. coli was metabolically engineered to produce vanillin by expression of the fcs and ech genes from Amycolatopsis sp. encoding feruloyl-CoA synthetase and enoyl-CoA hydratase/aldolase, respectively. Vanillin production was optimized by leaky expression of the genes, under the IPTG-inducible trc promoter, in complex 2YT medium. Supplementation with glucose, fructose, galactose, arabinose or glycerol severely decreased vanillin production. The highest vanillin production of 1.1 g l−1 was obtained with cultivation for 48 h in 2YT medium with 0.2% (w/v) ferulate, without IPTG and no supplementation of carbon sources.