Metabolic Engineering of Pseudomonas chlororaphis Qlu-1 for the Enhanced Production of Phenazine-1-carboxamide.

Phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA), the primary active ingredient of Shenqinmycin, was awarded the China Pesticide Certificate in 2011 due to its excellent antibacterial action. Phenazine-1-carboxamide (PCN) is a derivative of PCA, which is modified by the phzH gene, and its anti-bacterial effect is better than that of PCA. At present, PCN can be produced via Pseudomonas fermentation using an opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Qlu-1 is an environmentally friendly strain of Pseudomonas chlororaphis that can produce phenazine derivatives. We replaced the phzO gene with the phzH gene from P. aeruginosa to achieve PCN accumulation. Different strategies were used to enhance PCN production: knocking out of negative regulatory factors, enhancing the shikimate pathway by gene overexpression and gene knocking, and using fed-batch fermentation. Finally, an engineered strain of P. chlororaphis was produced, which produced 11.45 g/L PCN. This achievement indicates that Qlu-1 could be modified as a potential microbial cell factory for PCN production by metabolic engineering.