초록
<P>The aromatic polymer lignin represents a possible renewable source of aromatic chemicals, if biocatalytic routes for lignin breakdown can be developed. The availability of a genome sequence for <I>Rhodococcus jostii</I> RHA1, a bacterium that breaks down lignin, has allowed the application of a targeted pathway engineering strategy to lignin breakdown to produce vanillin, a valuable food/flavor chemical. A gene deletion strain of <I>R. jostii</I> RHA1 in which the vanillin dehydrogenase gene had been deleted, when grown on minimal medium containing 2.5% wheat straw lignocellulose and 0.05% glucose, was found to accumulate vanillin with yields of up to 96 mg/L after 144 h, together with smaller amounts of ferulic acid and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B><BR><IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/acbcct/2013/acbcct.2013.8.issue-10/cb400505a/production/images/medium/cb-2013-00505a_0004.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/cb400505a'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>