Combining in silico and in vitro approaches to understand the involvement of methylerythritol 4-phosphate and shikimate pathways in Agrobacterium tumefaciens for enhanced coenzyme Q₁₀ production.

This article focuses on elucidating the coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) biosynthetic pathway in the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens to enhance its production. Using comparative genome analysis via the genome to KEGG orthology (G2KO) tool and the KEGG database, the study mapped CoQ10 metabolic pathways across ten organisms, revealing that A. tumefaciens possesses key components of the shikimate and methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathways contributing to CoQ10 synthesis, despite some genes being unannotated. Experimental validation with pathway-specific inhibitors (fosmidomycin for MEP and glyphosate for shikimate) showed significant reductions in CoQ10 production, while supplementation with pathway precursors like 4-hydroxybenzoate and red paprika juice increased CoQ10 yield by over twofold. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of CoQ10 biosynthesis in A. tumefaciens, supporting future metabolic engineering efforts to improve industrial CoQ10 production.