Efficient synthesis of 6′-sialyllactose, 6,6′-disialyllactose, and 6′-KDO-lactose by metabolically engineered E. coli expressing a multifunctional sialyltransferase from the Photobacterium sp JT-ISH-224

We have previously reported the efficient conversion of lactose into 3'-sialyllactose by high cell density cultures of a genetically engineered Escherichia coli strain expressing the Neisseria meningitidis gene for alpha-(2 -> 3)-sialyltransferase [Fierfort, N.; Samain, E. J. Biotechnol. 2008, 134,261-265.]. First attempts to use a similar strategy to produce 6'-sialyllactose with a strain expressing alpha-(2 -> 6)-sialyltransferase from the Photobacterium sp. JT-ISH-224 led to the production of a trisaccharide that was identified as KDO-lactose (2-keto-3-deoxy-manno-octonyllactose). This result showed that alpha-(2 -> 6)-sialyltransferase was able to use CMP-KDO as sugar donor and preferentially used CMP-KDO over CMP-Neu5Ac. By reducing the expression level of the sialyltransferase gene and increasing that of the neuABC genes, we have been able to favour the formation of 6'-sialyllactose and to prevent the formation of KDO-lactose. However, in this case, a third lactose derivative, which was identified as 6,6'-disialyllactose, was also produced. Formation of 6,6'-disialyllactose was mainly observed under conditions of lactose shortage. On the other hand, when the culture was continuously fed with an excess of lactose, 6'-sialyllactose was almost the only product detected and its final concentration was higher than 30 g/L of culture medium. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.