Pseudomonas putida KT2440 as a host for biochemicals production

The extensive use of cell factories for production of biochemicals is still facing a number of challenges to become economically competitive. One of the problems that need to be overcome is the toxicity of certain chemical products, which prevents yields high enough for their implementation in industry.This thesis aims at contributing to developing and characterizing tools for the use of alternative hosts organisms with high tolerance towards toxic compounds, such as Pseudomonas putida.

The thesis also focuses on identifying target compounds that may be relevant to produce in this strain such as p-coumaric acid, and the mechanisms responsible for such natural tolerance. Moreover, the tolerance towards the highly toxic compound p-hydroxystyrene was improved as an alternative strategy to deal with the effect on growth during the production of such compounds.

Expanding the toolbox for alternative microorganisms as well as identifying mechanisms that can be applied in the design and construction of cell factories will assist in the advance of biosustainability, leading us to a future free of petroleum-based industry.