1. Introduction
Heparin is a class of highly sulfated glycosaminoglycans whose polysaccharide backbone is composed of alternating residues of iduronic acid (IdoA)/glucuronic acid (GlcA) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), connected by α-1,4/β-1,4 glycosidic bonds [1]. In the Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum of mammalian cells, the heparin polysaccharide backbone is synthesized and undergoes isomerization and multi-step sulfation modifications to form bioactive heparin molecules [2]. The introduction of 3-O-sulfated glucosamine residues is critical for imparting anticoagulant activity [3]. The anticoagulant function of heparin originates from its unique pentasaccharide sequence, which specifically binds to antithrombin III and induces a conformational change that significantly enhances the activities of factor IIa and Xa, thereby exerting anticoagulant effects [4]. Additionally, heparin exhibits various other biological functions, including anti-tumor and immunomodulatory activities [5,6]. Currently, the industrial production of heparin primarily relies on extraction from animal tissues, with raw materials mainly sourced from porcine intestinal mucosa and bovine lung tissues [1]. This method is characterized by low production costs and ease of operation. However, it is susceptible to fluctuations in raw material supply and carries the risk of viral contamination. Moreover, the production process generates large amounts of wastewater, and the variability between different batches may affect clinical efficacy [7].
The capsular polysaccharide of Escherichia coli O10:K5:H4 was isolated and characterized by a unique repeating structure of -4) GlcA-(beta 1-4)-GlcNAc (alpha 1- which was consistent with that of the heparin backbone [8]. This polysaccharide was regarded as a K5 polysaccharide or heparosan. Subsequently, E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) [9], and Pasteurella multocida [10] were also found to synthesize heparosan naturally. Heparosan can be converted into bioactive heparin through a chemoenzymatic modification process [11]. In detail, the N-acetylation of GlcNAc residues is removed through either NaOH treatment or enzymatic catalysis by N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase (NDST). The GlcA residues subsequently undergo stereochemical conversion via C5-epimerase to generate IdoA. The polysaccharide chain was further modified by specific sulfotransferases; 2-O-sulfotransferase (2-OST) primarily modifies the C2 position of IdoA residues, while 6-O-sulfotransferase (6-OST) and 3-O-sulfotransferase (3-OST) catalyze sulfation at the C6 and C3 positions of glucosamine (GlcN) residues, respectively. This multi-enzyme cascade precisely regulates the sulfation pattern essential for heparin’s bioactivity [12].
Heparosan synthesis has been achieved through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches using microorganisms including E. coli BL21 [13], E. coli K12 [14], Bacillus megaterium [15], Bacillus subtilis [16], Corynebacterium glutamicum [17], and Pichia pastoris [7]. Among the natural and engineered producers, EcN exhibits significant antagonistic effects against various pathogenic enterobacteria and is a well-recognized probiotic [18]. EcN has been developed into microbial preparations used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders such as infectious diarrhea, chronic constipation, and inflammatory bowel disease [19]. While EcN demonstrates good biosafety, its heparosan production titer is relatively low due to the inefficient natural system for heparosan biosynthesis and secretion [9]. Heparosan is composed of repeating disaccharide units of GlcNAc and GlcA, whose biosynthesis originates from distinct metabolic precursors, i.e., glucose-6-phosphate (Glu-6-P) for UDP-GlcA and fructose-6-phosphate (Fru-6-P) for UDP-GlcNAc (Figure 1). Conventional fermentation using glucose may cause metabolic competition between these two biosynthetic pathways, leading to imbalanced UDP-sugar precursor pools that consequently constrain heparosan production [20]. In addition, a previous study has identified cyclic-AMP receptor protein recognition sequences near the heparosan biosynthesis operon in EcN, where transcriptional activity is inhibited under high-glucose conditions [21].
In this study, we developed an innovative carbon source allocation strategy that directs glycerol exclusively for biomass formation, glucose for UDP-GlcA production, and fructose for UDP-GlcNAc generation. This rationally designed triple-carbon-source co-utilization system ensures a balanced UDP-GlcA and UDP-GlcNAc precursor supply while eliminating carbon source competition. Furthermore, combined with the overexpression of key enzymes in the synthetic pathway, the heparosan titer in shake-flask cultures reached 1049.96 mg/L, thereby establishing an optimized platform for efficient heparosan production and the chemoenzymatic synthesis of heparin.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Bacterial Strains and Plasmids
Table 1 summarizes the bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study. E. coli DH5α was employed for plasmid construction and maintenance, while genetic modifications aimed at heparosan synthesis were introduced into the probiotic strain E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN). The cultivation of E. coli strains was routinely carried out in Luria–Bertani (LB) medium, which contains 10 g of Bacto tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, and 10 g of NaCl per liter. All cultures were incubated aerobically at 37 °C. To maintain plasmid stability, the media were supplemented with the appropriate antibiotics, ampicillin (100 μg/mL), kanamycin (50 μg/mL), or chloramphenicol (34 μg/mL), in accordance with the resistance markers present in each construct.
2.2. Deletion of E. coli Chromosomal Genes
Gene deletion in EcN strains was performed using the λ-Red recombinase-mediated homologous recombination technique, following established protocols [22]. For each target gene (pgi, fruA, fbaA, and fbaB), specific primer pairs (KOpgi_fw/KOpgi_rv, KOfruA_fw/KOfruA_rv, KOfbaA_fw/KOfbaA_rv, and KOfbaB_fw/KOfbaB_rv) were designed to amplify an antibiotic resistance cassette flanked by 60 bp-homologous sequences to the target loci from the template plasmid pKD13 (see Supplementary Table S1). These linear DNA fragments were then electroporated into the recipient strain carrying pKD46, which harbors the arabinose-induced λ-Red recombinase. All gene deletions were confirmed by colony PCR and subsequent DNA sequencing using the verification primers pgi_fw/pgi_rv, fruA_fw/fruA_rv, fbaA_fw/fbaA_rv, and fbaB_fw/fbaB_rv.
2.3. Plasmid Construction
Plasmid constructs were generated using a Gibson assembly to enable the seamless cloning of target genes. All gene fragments, including glmS, glmM, kfiD, kfiA, kfiC, ndk, and pgm from EcN, galU from B. subtilis 168, and nox from L. rhamnosus GG, were amplified by PCR with primers (see Supplementary Table S2 for details). For single-gene expression, fragments were cloned into the expression vector pEC-XK99E. Multigene co-expression constructs were created by simultaneously inserting multiple fragments into compatible pETDuet and pRSFDuet vectors. All constructs were verified by Sanger sequencing and analyzed for correct assembly using SnapGene software (Version 7.0).
2.4. Culture Conditions for Shake-Flask Experiments
Seed cultures were prepared using LB medium and incubated at 37 °C with shaking at 200 rpm for 14 h. For carbon source utilization experiments, a 2% (v/v) aliquot of the seed culture was transferred into 250 mL baffled flasks containing 20 mL of M9 minimal medium with 10 g/L glucose, fructose, glycerol, or carbon mixtures. For the production of heparosan, shake-flask cultivations were carried out using R medium, which is formulated with the following components (per liter): 4 g Bacto tryptone, 6 g yeast extract, 13.5 g KH2PO4, 4 g (NH4)2HPO4, 1.4 g MgSO4·7H2O, 1.7 g citrate, 0.1 g thiamine-HCl, and 10 mL of a trace element solution. The trace element solution was prepared by dissolving 2 g CaCl2, 2.2 g ZnSO4·7H2O, 0.5 g MnSO4·4H2O, 10 g FeSO4·7H2O, 0.02 g Na2B4O7·10H2O, 1 g CuSO4·5H2O, and 0.1 g (NH4)6Mo7O24·4H2O in 1 L of deionized water. A carbon mixture of glucose, fructose, and glycerol was employed in heparosan production studies.
2.5. Analytical Methods
During the shake-flask experiments, aliquots of the culture were periodically withdrawn to monitor cell growth and metabolite concentrations. Growth was tracked by measuring the optical density at 600 nm (OD600). After collection, the cultures were centrifuged at 8000× g for 10 min to pellet cells, and the supernatants were filtered through 0.22 μm syringe filters for the analysis of carbon utilization and acetate production using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC system (LC-20A, Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan) was equipped with an Aminex HPX-87H ion-exchange column (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) and a refractive index detector, with the column maintained at 55 °C and a mobile phase of 5 mM sulfuric acid at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min.
Heparosan was extracted and quantified based on previously reported methods [23]. Briefly, 50 mL of the culture was centrifuged at 10,000× g for 10 min, and the supernatant was combined with four volumes of ice-cold ethanol and incubated at −20 °C overnight. The precipitate was recovered by centrifugation at 10,000× g for 10 min at 4 °C, dried, and then re-dissolved in deionized water. Insoluble residues were removed by an additional centrifugation step. The heparosan concentration was determined spectrophotometrically via the carbazole assay, using D-glucuronic acid as a standard [23]. Briefly, purified heparosan (1 mL) was mixed with 5 mL of sulfuric acid reagent and incubated in boiling water for 10 min. After cooling on ice, 250 μL of carbazole reagent (0.125% w/v) was added, followed by a second incubation in boiling water for 15 min. Absorbance at 530 nm was measured to calculate the heparosan concentration.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Design of Co-Utilization Pathways for Glucose, Fructose, and Glycerol
To improve heparosan biosynthesis in EcN, a rational redesign of the glycolytic pathway was carried out, so that glucose and fructose are separately channeled toward the synthesis of Glu-6-P and Fru-6-P, respectively. In detail, the disruption of pgi gene encoding phosphoglucose isomerase prevents the conversion between Glu-6-P and Fru-6-P, and the deletion of the zwf gene encoding Glu-6-P dehydrogenase blocks the entry of Glu-6-P into the pentose phosphate pathway, ensuring that the metabolic flux of Glu-6-P predominantly enters the UDP-GlcA synthesis pathway. For fructose utilization, two alternative approaches were implemented based on previous studies [24,25]. First, the fructose-specific phosphotransferase gene fruA was knocked out, while simultaneously deleting the phosphofructokinase genes pfkA and pfkB to block the entry of Fru-6-P into glycolysis, thereby directing its flux mainly towards the UDP-GlcNAc synthesis pathway. Second, on the basis of pfkAB deletion, knocking out the fbaA/fbaB encoding fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase can also impede the catabolic utilization of fructose. Glycerol was supplied as an auxiliary carbon source to support cell growth, thereby achieving the synergistic utilization of glucose, fructose, and glycerol (Figure 1). The strategy demonstrates how rational pathway engineering can overcome inherent metabolic bottlenecks in heparosan biosynthesis.
3.2. Metabolic Characteristics of Engineered Mutants During Cultivation on a Single Carbon Source
To verify the feasibility of the aforementioned strategy, the relevant genes were individually deleted to construct a series of E. coli mutants designated EcN03, EcN04, EcN04F, EcN04A, EcN04B, and EcN04AB (Table 1). The M9 minimal medium was supplemented with 10 g/L of either glucose, fructose, or glycerol as the sole carbon source. The cell growth and carbon source consumption profiles of the strains were investigated to evaluate their metabolic efficiencies for different carbon sources. Strain EcN03, with zwf and pfkAB deletions, showed the complete loss of the glucose utilization capacity with negligible biomass accumulation over 72 h, while maintaining normal cell growth and the consumption of both glycerol and fructose (Figure 2A). The subsequent introduction of the pgi knockout in EcN04 resulted in similar glucose and fructose utilization patterns as observed in EcN03. However, glycerol utilization showed a significant lag phase of 12 h (Figure 2B). This observation suggests that the pgi deletion impacts the gluconeogenic pathway, which is essential for generating six-carbon sugars during growth on glycerol [26].
Further genetic modifications revealed distinct functional roles of fructose metabolic enzymes. Strain EcN04F, harboring fruA deletion, showed similar metabolic behavior for glucose and glycerol to that of EcN04, yet its fructose utilization capacity was lost (Figure 2C). This result indicated that deleting pfkAB and fruA genes blocked the formation of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, thus completely abolishing fructose consumption. In terms of the inactivation of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, strain EcN04A, harboring fbaA deletion, showed no significant fructose consumption over 72 h, indicating that the deletion of fbaA, similarly to fruA deletion, effectively blocks fructose utilization (Figure 2D). It is worth noting that the glycerol utilization was further decreased, with glycerol consumption beginning only after 36 h. Since fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase plays roles in both glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, its absence hinders the synthesis of six-carbon sugars when glycerol is employed as the sole carbon source, resulting in an even lower growth rate. In contrast, the deletion of the fbaB knockout showed minimal metabolic effects, and the glucose, fructose, and glycerol utilization profiles were similar to those of EcN04, suggesting that fbaB is not the predominant aldolase (Figure 2E). The fbaAB double knockout EcN04AB exhibited the most severe phenotype with glycerol utilization, with cell growth only after 60 h (Figure 2F). This indicates that the reaction catalyzed by fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase plays a critical role in gluconeogenesis and that the deletion of both isoenzymes severely reduces the rate of glycerol utilization [27]. The above results indicate that in the EcN04F, EcN04A, and EcN04AB strains, the carbon metabolism characteristics adhere to the designed strategy for directional carbon allocation. Neither glucose nor fructose can serve as the primary carbon source for cell growth, while glycerol provides the energy and materials necessary for maintaining cell growth and metabolism.
3.3. Metabolic Characteristics of Engineered Mutants During Cultivation on Mixed Carbon Sources
To systematically evaluate the metabolic efficiency and carbon source allocation patterns of engineered strains under mixed carbon conditions, EcN04F, EcN04A, and EcN04AB were cultivated in M9 minimal medium supplemented with 10 g/L each of glucose, fructose, and glycerol. Growth curves and carbon source consumption profiles were measured to assess metabolic adaptations. In the mixed carbon source medium, EcN04F exhibited a 12 h lag phase followed by exponential growth, reaching a maximum OD600 of 3.6 at 36 h (Figure 3A). This represented a significant improvement over its performance in the glycerol-only medium, suggesting that the presence of glucose and fructose partially compensated for gluconeogenic deficiencies [28]. Notably, the strain preferentially utilized glycerol for growth, with a negligible consumption of glucose or fructose in the M9 medium.
Similar to EcN04F, the EcN04A strain also displayed a markedly shortened growth lag phase under mixed carbon source conditions, achieving a maximum OD600 of 3.42 at 36 h (Figure 3B). The availability of glucose and fructose alleviated gluconeogenic constraints, accelerating both growth initiation and glycerol utilization. In terms of fbaB deletion, EcN04B demonstrated similar cell growth and carbon utilization patterns to those of EcN04, which aligns with previous observations under single carbon source conditions, providing further evidence that fbaB does not play a major role in these metabolic processes (Figure 3C). EcN04AB also exhibited a shortened growth lag phase, with the onset of exponential growth advancing from 60 h to 36 h (Figure 3D). Notably, this lag period remained longer than that observed for EcN04A, demonstrating that while the presence of multiple carbon sources can partially compensate for metabolic deficiencies, the complete knockout of both fbaA and fbaB genes imposes more severe constraints on cellular metabolic adaptation than the single fbaA deletion [29]. This differential response further confirms the hierarchical importance of aldolase isozymes in supporting gluconeogenic flux, with fbaA playing the predominant role and fbaB providing an auxiliary function when fbaA is absent.
3.4. Effect of Carbon-Flux Allocation on Heparosan Production
Next, a comparative evaluation of heparosan production was conducted using wild-type EcN and the recombinant strains EcN04F, EcN04A, and EcN04AB in shake-flask cultures with the R medium. While EcN utilized 20 g/L glucose as the sole carbon source, each recombinant strain was grown with 20 g/L glycerol to support cell growth, supplemented with 2 g/L glucose and 2 g/L fructose as the designated carbon sources for heparosan synthesis. As shown in Figure 4, the three engineered strains achieved a significantly higher maximum biomass compared to wild-type EcN. Notably, EcN04F exhibited exponential growth during the first 0–12 h and rapidly reached its peak cell density. In comparison, EcN04A and EcN04AB displayed a delayed growth phase during the initial 0–12 h, entering a rapid proliferation stage only after 12 h and ultimately achieving the highest biomass by 24 h. These results demonstrate that the directed carbon-flux strategy markedly enhances maximum cell density, laying a strong foundation for subsequent high-density fermentations.
The metabolic engineering approach yielded substantial improvements in heparosan production, with all engineered strains outperforming the wild-type EcN of 137.68 mg/L. Specifically, EcN04F produced 414.40 mg/L, while EcN04A and EcN04AB achieved 357.21 mg/L and 302.82 mg/L, respectively (Figure 4). This pronounced increase in the product titer confirms that rerouting intracellular carbon flux effectively strengthens the biosynthetic pathway for heparosan. Due to the blocked glycolytic pathway, the conversion efficiency from sugars to heparosan was significantly improved, reaching a yield of 0.10 g/g in strain EcN04F. The superior performance of EcN04F provides important insights for future strain optimization, indicating that the targeted disruption of fructose phosphotransferase systems may be more physiologically favorable than the complete glycolysis blockade for maintaining metabolic balance during heparosan production.
3.5. Impact of Key Enzyme Overexpression on Heparosan Biosynthesis
Finally, the effects of overexpressing key enzymes involved in the heparosan biosynthetic pathway were investigated in strain EcN04F. The selected genes included glmS (glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase), glmM (phosphoglucosamine mutase), kfiD (UDP-glucose dehydrogenase), pgm (phosphoglucomutase), galU (glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase), kfiAC (glycosyltransferases A and C), ndk (nucleoside diphosphate kinase), and nox (NADH oxidase). The effect of individual gene overexpression was evaluated first (see Supplementary Figure S1). Among these, the overexpression of galU yielded the most significant improvement, increasing heparosan production by 31.8% to 578.69 mg/L. Moderate enhancements were observed with glmM (561.63 mg/L), pgm (526.59 mg/L), and kfiD (512.71 mg/L), whereas glmS overexpression showed no statistically significant effect (438.65 mg/L). Glycosyltransferase engineering revealed differential impacts; kfiA overexpression increased the titer by 15.3% to 477.94 mg/L, while kfiC showed negligible effects.
The UDP-sugar biosynthetic process requires cofactors such as UTP and NAD. Nucleoside diphosphate kinase catalyzes the transfer of phosphate groups between nucleoside diphosphates and triphosphates, maintaining the dynamic equilibrium of intracellular UTP pools [30]. Its overexpression may theoretically enhance UTP availability for UDP-sugar precursor synthesis. NADH oxidase directly oxidizes NADH to NAD and may facilitate the rapid regeneration of oxidized cofactors [31]. Unexpectedly, ndk overexpression failed to enhance production, and nox overexpression significantly reduced yields, suggesting that redox imbalance may disrupt precursor biosynthesis.
The poxB gene encodes pyruvate oxidase. Its knockout reduces acetate production with minimal effects on cell growth [32]. The pyruvate oxidase gene poxB in the genome of strain EcN04F was replaced with the DE3 cassette containing the T7 RNA polymerase gene [33], generating a T7-compatible host strain EcN04F-DE3. Using this strain, a dual-plasmid expression system driven by the T7 promoter was employed to co-express five genes that had previously shown positive effects when overexpressed individually. The highest yield was achieved by expressing pRSF-glmM-pgm-galU, resulting in a titer of 773.78 mg/L, which represents an 86.7% increase compared to the original strain EcN04F (Figure 5). The further optimization of IPTG induction conditions revealed that the optimal induction time was when OD600 reached 5, at which point the heparosan titer increased to 1049.96 mg/L, reaching a yield of 0.26 g/g. The IPTG concentration (0.1–0.8 mM), however, had no significant impact on production (Figure 5). These results suggest that delayed induction can effectively reduce the metabolic burden and enhance the biosynthetic efficiency of heparosan.
In previous studies, various metabolic engineering strategies have been employed to enhance heparosan biosynthesis in EcN. Through the overexpression optimization of key genes galU, kfiD, glmM, kfiA, and kfiC in the heparosan synthesis pathway, the titer reached 1.29 g/L in shake-flask cultures, with a conversion yield of 0.0255 g/g. The production titer was further improved to 11.50 g/L via fed-batch fermentation [23]. Chromosome evolution driven by antibiotics was employed to amplify the kps locus, which contains genes for the synthesis and transport of heparosan. The engineered strain with a 24-fold amplified kps copy number achieved a titer of 9.1 g/L in fed-batch fermentation [34]. By reconstructing the glycolytic pathway, we successfully separated the carbon fluxes for biomass formation and heparosan synthesis. The combination of this approach with existing engineering strategies holds potential for additional productivity gains. For instance, experimental evidence confirms that the coordinated overexpression of KfiA/KfiC synthases promotes heparosan chain elongation, positioning them as promising modification targets in future study [35].
4. Conclusions
This study established an optimized E. coli Nissle 1917 platform for heparosan biosynthesis through carbon flux redirection and enzyme engineering. The rational redesign of the glycolytic pathway effectively blocked the catabolic routes of glucose and fructose, channeling their metabolic flux exclusively into the two distinct monosaccharide biosynthesis branches, thereby achieving the balanced partitioning of these divergent metabolic pathways. The combinatorial reinforcement of key enzymes further substantially enhanced the heparosan biosynthetic capability, culminating in a shake-flask titer of 1049.96 mg/L. Through optimized fed-batch fermentation at the bioreactor scale with refined culture conditions and carbon feeding strategies, the heparosan production in EcN is expected to reach higher levels. These findings validate synthetic biology approaches for overcoming pathway competition in complex glycan biosynthesis, offering a sustainable alternative to animal-derived heparin production.
Conceptualization, Z.-J.L.; methodology, F.S. and R.W.; formal analysis, F.S. and R.W.; investigation, F.S. and R.W.; writing—original draft preparation, Z.-J.L.; writing—review and editing, Z.-J.L.; supervision and project administration, Z.-J.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Footnotes
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Figure 1 Metabolic engineering strategy for heparosan biosynthesis via a tripartite carbon allocation strategy.
Figure 2 Cell growth and carbon utilization profiles of engineered E. coli strains cultivated with a single carbon source in M9 medium.
Figure 3 Cell growth and carbon utilization profiles of engineered E. coli strains cultivated with mixed carbon sources in M9 medium.
Figure 4 Improved heparosan production through carbon flux redirection. (A) Cell growth. (B) Heparosan production.
Figure 5 Effect of key enzyme overexpression on heparosan production. (A,B) Effects of multi-enzyme overexpression on cell growth and heparosan production. (C,D) Effects of induction time on cell growth and heparosan production. (E,F) Effects of IPTG concentration on cell growth and heparosan production.
Strains and plasmids used in this study.
| Strains/Plasmids | Description | References |
|---|---|---|
| Strains | ||
| E. coli DH5α | Wild-type strain for gene cloning | Takara Bio |
| E. coli Nissle 1917 | Wild-type strain for heparosan production | DSMZ * |
| Bacillus subtilis 168 | Wild-type strain for cloning galU gene | DSMZ |
| E. coli EcN03 | Nissle 1917 Δzwf ΔpfkB ΔpfkA | This study |
| E. coli EcN04 | Nissle 1917 Δzwf ΔpfkB ΔpfkA Δpgi | This study |
| E. coli EcN04F | Nissle 1917 Δzwf ΔpfkB ΔpfkA Δpgi ΔfruA | This study |
| E. coli EcN04A | Nissle 1917 Δzwf ΔpfkB ΔpfkA Δpgi ΔfbaA | This study |
| E. coli EcN04B | Nissle 1917 Δzwf ΔpfkB ΔpfkA Δpgi ΔfbaB | This study |
| E. coli EcN04AB | Nissle 1917 Δzwf ΔpfkB ΔpfkA Δpgi ΔfbaA ΔfbaB | This study |
| E. coli EcN04F-DE3 | Nissle 1917 Δzwf ΔpfkB ΔpfkA Δpgi ΔfruA ΔpoxB::DE3 | This study |
| Plasmids | ||
| pKD13 | Plasmid harboring KanR and FLP recognition target | Yale CGSC ** |
| pKD46 | λ-Red recombinase expression helper plasmid | Yale CGSC |
| pCP20 | FLP recombinase helper plasmid | Yale CGSC |
| pEC-XK99E | Expression vector, trc promoter, KanR | Sangon Biotech |
| pETDuet | Expression vector, T7 promoter, AmpR | Sangon Biotech |
| pRSFDuet | Expression vector, T7 promoter, KanR | Sangon Biotech |
| pEC-kfiD | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring kfiD from EcN | This study |
| pEC-glmM | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring glmM from EcN | This study |
| pEC-glmS | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring glmS from EcN | This study |
| pEC-pgm | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring pgm from EcN | This study |
| pEC-galU | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring galU from B. subtilis 168 | This study |
| pEC-kfiA | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring kfiA from EcN | This study |
| pEC-kfiC | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring kfiC from EcN | This study |
| pEC-ndk | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring ndk from EcN | This study |
| pEC-nox1 | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring nox1 from L. rhamnosus GG | This study |
| pEC-nox2 | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring nox2 from L. rhamnosus GG | This study |
| pEC-nox3 | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring nox3 from L. rhamnosus GG | This study |
| pEC-nox4 | pEC-XK99E derived, harboring nox4 from L. rhamnosus GG | This study |
| pET-kfiD-kfiA | pETDuet derived, harboring kfiA and kfiC | This study |
| pRSF-glmM-pgm-galU | pRSFDuet derived, harboring glmM, pgm, and galU | This study |
* DSMZ, German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures. ** Yale CGSC, The E. coli Genetic Stock Center.
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