[Efficient production of biliverdin through whole-cell biocatalysis using recombinant Escherichia coli ].

Biliverdin is an important cellular antioxidant. Traditionally, biliverdin is produced by chemical oxidation of bilirubin, which is a complex process and the final product is of low purity. Here we report an efficient, green and safe process for biotechnological production of biliverdin. A heme oxygenase (HO) gene from was screened, and a recombinant strain BL21/pETDuet- with the ability of transforming heme into biliverdin was constructed. A biliverdin yield of 32.9 mg/L from 100 mg/L substrate was achieved under pH 7.0 and 35 ℃. In order to improve the supply of reducing power, an NADPH regeneration system using glutamate dehydrogenase (GdhA) was constructed, resulting in a recombinant strain . BL21/pETDuet-- which was capable of producing 71.5 mg/L biliverdin. Moreover, through introduction of a membrane surface display system, a recombinant strain . BL21/pETDuet--/ was constructed to shorten the transformation time, and the production of biliverdin was further increased to 76.3 mg/L, this is the highest titer of biosynthesized biliverdin reported to date, and the research may thus facilitate the green production of biliverdin.