Bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles as Nano‐Scale Bioreactors: A Fatty Acid Conversion Case Study
Ji‐Won Song, Yoonjin Baeg, Ha‐Yeon Jeong, Jinwon Lee, Deok‐Kun Oh, Frank Hollmann, Jin‐Byung Park
Abstract
Abstract Bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are small unilamellar proteoliposomes, involved in various functions including cell‐to‐cell signalling and protein excretion. We have engineered the OMVs of Escherichia coli to nano‐scaled bioreactors for the biotransformation of fatty acids by targeting a fatty acid double bond hydratase of Stentrophomonas maltophilia ( Sm OhyA) and/or a photoactivated fatty acid decarboxylase from Chlorella variabilis NC64 A ( Cv FAP) into OMVs. Engineered OMVs containing both Sm OhyA and Cv FAP were able to catalyse the transformation of oleic acid (( Z )‐octadec‐9‐enoic acid) into 9‐hydroxyheptadecane via ( R )‐10‐hydroxyoctadecanoic acid. The specific biotransformation rates of oleic acid reached 8.0×10 −12 μmol/min per OMV.