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5-Aminolevulinic acid

5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) is a naturally non-proteinogenic amino acid, which can be applied in agricultural and medical fields. 5-ALA has been used as a prodrug in photodynamic therapy (PDT) owing to its conversion to protoporphyrin IX (PPIX).

In our lab, the 5-ALA production was elevated via in vivo pathway through the following strategies:

    ✦ Enzyme selection and modular design for expression

    ✦ Optimization of the codon usage for 5-aminolevulinic acid synthase (ALAS)

    ✦ Fine-tuning the co-factor supplementation

    ✦ Metabolic regulation and optimization of cultural condition

    ✦ Low-carbon-footprint production with improved ALAS activity

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Moreover, the purification process for fermentative 5-ALA was carried out for the further application in PDT. The results have been published in SCI journals listed below:

  • Tzu-Hsuan Yu, Ying-Chen Yi, I-Tai Shih, I-Son Ng* (2020). Enhanced 5-aminolevulinic acid production by co-expression of codon-optimized hemA gene with chaperone in genetic engineered Escherichia coli. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 191(1), 299-312.

  • Ying-Chen Yi, I-Son Ng* (2021) Redirection of metabolic flux in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 by CRISPRi and modular design for 5-aminolevulinic acid production. Bioresources and Bioprocessing, 8: 13.

  • Chengfeng Xue, Tzu-Hsuan Yu, I-Son Ng* (2021) Engineering pyridoxal kinase PdxY-integrated Escherichia coli strain and optimization for high-level 5-aminolevulinic acid production. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, 120: 49-58.

  • I-Tai Shih, Ying-Chen Yi, I-Son Ng* (2021) Plasmid-free system and modular design for efficient 5-aminolevulinic acid production by engineered Escherichia coli. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 193:2858–2871.

  • Ying-Chen Yi, Chengfeng Xue, I-Son Ng* (2021) Low carbon footprint production of high-end 5-aminolevulinic acid via integrative strain engineering and RuBisCo-equipped Escherichia coli. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 9(46): 15623–15633

  • Tzu-Hsuan Yu, Shih-I Tan, Ying-Chen Yi, Chengfeng Xue, Wan-Wen Ting, Jui-Jen Chang, I-Son Ng* (2022) New insight into the codon usage and medium optimization toward stable and high-level 5-aminolevulinic acid production in Escherichia coli. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 177, 108259.

  • Yen-Ju Lee#, Ying-Chen Yi#, Yu-Chieh Lin, Chao-Chung Chen, Jia-Horung Hung, Jia-Yi Lin, I-Son Ng* (2022) Purification and biofabrication of 5-aminolevulinic acid for photodynamic therapy against pathogens and cancer cells. Bioresource and Bioprocessing, 9:68

  • Wan-Wen Ting, I-Son Ng* (2022) Effective 5-aminolevulinic acid production via T7 RNA polymerase and RuBisCO equipped Escherichia coli W3110. Biotechnology Bioengineering, 1–10. DOI: 10.1002/bit.28273

  • Wan-Wen Ting, I-Son Ng* (2022) Adaptive laboratory evolution and metabolic regulation of genetic Escherichia coli W3110 toward low-carbon footprint production of 5-aminolevulinic acid. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtice.2022.104612

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