Fig. 1

Reverse β-oxidation pathway for adipic acid biosynthesis from TCA metabolites. a Synthetic pathway designed to enable adipic acid biosynthesis from succinyl-CoA and acetyl-CoA. Five enzymatic steps, including condensation, reduction, dehydration, second reduction, and hydrolysis of a thioester bond, are carried out by paaJ, paaH, paaF, ter, and tesB gene products encoding the E. coli PaaJ thiolase, PaaH 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, PaaF 2,3-dehydroadipyl-CoA hydratase, Ter trans-2-enoyl-CoA reductase, and TesB thioesterase. PcaF corresponds to a putative acetyl-CoA:acetyltransferase. b Vector design to investigate pathway intermediate compounds