TY - JOUR AB - Most biodiesel currently in use consists of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) produced by transesterification of plant oils with methanol. To reduce competition with food supplies, it would be desirable to directly produce biodiesel in microorganisms. To date, the most effective pathway for the production of biodiesel in bacteria yields fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) at up to similar to 1.5 g/L. A much simpler route to biodiesel produces FAMEs by direct S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) dependent methylation of free fatty acids, but FAME production by this route has been limited to only similar to 16 mg/L. Here we employ an alternative, broad spectrum methyltransferase, Drosophila melanogaster Juvenile Hormone Acid O-Methyltransferase (DmJHAMT). By introducing DmJHAMT in E. coli engineered to produce medium chain fatty acids and overproduce SAM, we obtain medium chain FAMEs at titers of 0.56 g/L, a 35-fold increase over titers previously achieved. Although considerable improvements will be needed for viable bacterial production of FAMEs and FAEEs for biofuels, it may be easier to optimize and transport the FAME production pathway to other microorganisms because it involves fewer enzymes. AD - Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Chem & Biochem, UCLA DOE Inst Mol Biol Inst, 405 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024 USA AN - WOS:000373581100002 AU - Sherkhanov, S. AU - Korman, T. P. AU - Clarke, S. G. AU - Bowie, J. U. DA - Apr 7 DO - ARTN 24239 J2 - Sci Rep-Uk KW - fatty-acid production LA - English N1 - Di6ah PY - 2016 SN - 2045-2322 ST - Production of FAME biodiesel in E. coli by direct methylation with an insect enzyme T2 - Scientific Reports TI - Production of FAME biodiesel in E. coli by direct methylation with an insect enzyme UR - ://WOS:000373581100002 VL - 6 ID - 13177 ER -