초록
<P><B>Background</B></P><P>With <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose being the second most abundant sugar in nature, its conversion into products could significantly improve biomass-based process economy. There are two well-studied phosphorylative pathways for <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose metabolism. One is isomerase pathway mainly found in bacteria, and the other one is <I>oxo</I>-reductive pathway that always exists in fungi. Except for these two pathways, there are also non-phosphorylative pathways named xylose oxidative pathways and they have several advantages over traditional phosphorylative pathways. In <I>Myceliophthora thermophila</I>, <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose can be metabolized through <I>oxo</I>-reductive pathway after plant biomass degradation. The survey of non-phosphorylative pathways in this filamentous fungus will offer a potential way for carbon-efficient production of fuels and chemicals using <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>In this study, an alternative for utilization of <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose, the non-phosphorylative Weimberg pathway was established in <I>M. thermophila</I>. Growth on <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose of strains whose <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose reductase gene was disrupted, was restored after overexpression of the entire Weimberg pathway. During the construction, a native <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose dehydrogenase with highest activity in <I>M. thermophila</I> was discovered. Here, <I>M. thermophila</I> was also engineered to produce 1,2,4‐butanetriol using <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose through non-phosphorylative pathway. Afterwards, transcriptome analysis revealed that the <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose dehydrogenase gene was obviously upregulated after deletion of <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose reductase gene when cultured in a <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose medium. Besides, genes involved in growth were enriched in strains containing the Weimberg pathway.</P><P><B>Conclusions</B></P><P>The Weimberg pathway was established in <I>M. thermophila</I> to support its growth with <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose being the sole carbon source. Besides, <I>M. thermophila</I> was engineered to produce 1,2,4‐butanetriol using <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose through non-phosphorylative pathway. To our knowledge, this is the first report of non-phosphorylative pathway recombinant in filamentous fungi, which shows great potential to convert <SMALL>D</SMALL>-xylose to valuable chemicals.</P><P><B>Supplementary Information</B></P><P>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13068-023-02266-7.</P>