Biotechnological production of sustainable indole (INDIE)

ERA CoBioTech project INDIE aimed to develop Corynebacterium glutamicum as a production platform for high-value natural aromatic compounds, such as indole. Indole is a flavor ingredient used in dairy, tea and perfumery. We developed two successful production strategies using plant an microbial enzymes in a fermentation process. In a de novo process 0.7 g/L indole was produced via lyase enzymes. In a biotransformation process production of 6 g/L indole from tryptophane was achieved using tryptophanases and in situ product extraction. The modelling tools developed in this project will be easily extendable to the production of other aromatic compounds by Corynebacterium.