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Microbial synthesis of plant‐based (−)‐menthol is of great interest because of its high demand (≈30 kiloton per year) as well as unique odor and cooling characteristics. However, this remains a great challenge due to the yet unfilled gap between (−)‐limonene and (+)‐cis‐isopulegone. Herein, the first artificial and effective system was developed for (+)‐cis‐isopulegone biosynthesis from (−)‐limonene by recruiting two bacterial enzymes to replace their inefficient counterparts from Mentha piperita, limonene‐3‐hydroxylase, and isopiperitenol dehydrogenase. A cofactor self‐regenerative recombinant Escherichia coli strain was constructed by introducing a formate dehydrogenase for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) regeneration and an engineered microbial isopiperitenol dehydrogenase. The production of (+)‐cis‐isopulegone (up to 281.2 mg L−1) was improved by 36 times compared with that of the initial strain. This work lays a reliable foundation for the microbial synthesis of (−)‐menthol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial synthesis of plant-based (-)-menthol is of great interest because of its high demand (≈30 kiloton per year) as well as unique odor and cooling characteristics. However, this remains a great challenge due to the yet unfilled gap between (-)-limonene and (+)-cis-isopulegone. Herein, the first artificial and effective system was developed for (+)-cis-isopulegone biosynthesis from (-)-limonene by recruiting two bacterial enzymes to replace their inefficient counterparts from Mentha piperita, limonene-3-hydroxylase, and isopiperitenol dehydrogenase. A cofactor self-regenerative recombinant Escherichia coli strain was constructed by introducing a formate dehydrogenase for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) regeneration and an engineered microbial isopiperitenol dehydrogenase. The production of (+)-cis-isopulegone (up to 281.2 mg L -1 ) was improved by 36 times compared with that of the initial strain. This work lays a reliable foundation for the microbial synthesis of (-)-menthol., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)