2-Quinoxalinecarboxylic Acid Production in Escherichia coli

Quinoxaline, also known as benzopyrazine, is an important pharmaceutical and industrial compound. Despite their simple chemical structure, quinoxaline and quinoxaline derivatives display a myriad of useful therapeutic properties including antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic, and antitumor activities. They also possess unique electronic and luminescent properties and are used in the production of organic semiconductors, light emitting diodes, and solar panels. The most common method for large scale production of quinoxaline compounds is condensing benzene-1,2-diamine with 1,2-diketones, by heating for several hours in organic solvent. It is therefore desirable to develop a biological method for quinoxaline preparation that does not require use of solvents and does not produce toxic waste products. We are engineering E. coli to produce 2-quinoxalinecarboxylic acid. In particular, we are using the native Sec pathway of E. coli to export the biosynthesized 2-quinoxalinecarboxylic acid.