Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) for de novo production of L-DOPA from D-glucose.

Deletion of key enzymes to channel flux towards the shikimate pathway coupled with the overexpression of pathway enzymes enhanced the availability of L-tyrosine for L-DOPA production. Enhancing the activity of HpaB increased L-DOPA production from glucose and glycerol. This work demonstrates that increasing the availability of L-tyrosine and enhancing enzyme activity ensures maximum L-DOPA productivity.