Glycerol as a substrate for aerobic succinate production in minimal medium with Corynebacterium glutamicum

Corynebacterium glutamicum, an established microbial cell factory for the biotechnological production of amino acids, was recently genetically engineered for aerobic succinate production from glucose in minimal medium. In this work, the corresponding strains were transformed with plasmid pVWEx1-glpFKD coding for glycerol utilization genes from Escherichia coli. This plasmid had previously been shown to allow growth of C. glutamicum with glycerol as sole carbon source. The resulting strains were tested in minimal medium for aerobic succinate production from glycerol, which is a by-product in biodiesel synthesis. The best strain BL-1/pVWEx1-glpFKD formed 79 mM (9.3 g l⁻¹) succinate from 375 mM glycerol, representing 42% of the maximal theoretical yield under aerobic conditions. A specific succinate production rate of 1.55 mmol g⁻¹ (cdw) h⁻¹ and a volumetric productivity of 3.59 mM h⁻¹ were obtained, the latter value representing the highest one currently described in literature. The results demonstrate that metabolically engineered strains of C. glutamicum are well suited for aerobic succinate production from glycerol.     

Measuring anisotropic cell motility on curved substrates

Schwann cell motility was observed on laminin‐coated quartz cylinders with different curvatures over an 18 hour period. A new analysis based on difference images helped to determine the minimal radius of curvature, 46 μm, which restricted motility along the cylinder axis. The migration speed, measured by calculating differences between successive images in the time series, ranged between 0.3 to 0.8 μm per minute and is similar to previously reported rates for Schwann cells. Difference images provide a rapid and simple method for the analysis of cell motility on large populations of cells. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Corynebacterium glutamicum as a host for synthesis and export of D-Amino Acids

A number of d-amino acids occur in nature, and there is growing interest in their function and metabolism, as well as in their production and use. Here we use the well-established l-amino-acid-producing bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum to study whether d-amino acid synthesis is possible and whether mechanisms for the export of these amino acids exist. In contrast to Escherichia coli, C. glutamicum tolerates d-amino acids added extracellularly. Expression of argR (encoding the broad-substrate-specific racemase of Pseudomonas taetrolens) with its signal sequence deleted results in cytosolic localization of ArgR in C. glutamicum. The isolated enzyme has the highest activity with lysine (100%) but also exhibits activity with serine (2%). Upon overexpression of argR in an l-arginine, l-ornithine, or l-lysine producer, equimolar mixtures of the d- and l-enantiomers accumulated extracellularly. Unexpectedly, argR overexpression in an l-serine producer resulted in extracellular accumulation of a surplus of d-serine (81 mM d-serine and 37 mM l-serine) at intracellular concentrations of 125 mM d-serine plus 125 mM l-serine. This points to a nonlimiting ArgR activity for intracellular serine racemization and to the existence of a specific export carrier for d-serine. Export of d-lysine relies fully on the presence of lysE, encoding the exporter for l-lysine, which is apparently promiscuous with respect to the chirality of lysine. These data show that d-amino acids can also be produced with C. glutamicum and that in special cases, due to specific carriers, even a preferential extracellular accumulation of this enantiomer is possible.     

Phytosterol ester processing in the small intestine: impact on cholesterol availability for absorption and chylomicron cholesterol incorporation in healthy humans

Phytosterols (plant sterols and stanols) can lower intestinal cholesterol absorption, but the complex dynamics of the lipid digestion process in the presence of phytosterol esters (PEs) are not fully understood. We performed a clinical experiment in intubated healthy subjects to study the time course of changes in the distribution of all lipid moieties present in duodenal phases during 4 h of digestion of meals with 3.2 g PE (PE meal) or without (control meal) PE. In vitro experiments under simulated gastrointestinal conditions were also performed. The addition of PE did not alter triglyceride (TG) hydrolysis in the duodenum or subsequent chylomicron TG occurrence in the circulation. In contrast, cholesterol accumulation in the duodenum aqueous phase was markedly reduced in the presence of PE (-32%, P < 0.10). In vitro experiments confirmed that PE reduces cholesterol transfer into the aqueous phase. The addition of PE resulted in a markedly reduced presence of meal-derived hepta-deuterated cholesterol in the circulation, i.e., in chylomicrons (-43%, PE meal vs. control; P < 0.0001) and plasma (-54%, PE meal vs. control; P < 0.0001). The present data show that addition of PE to a meal does not alter TG hydrolysis but displaces cholesterol from the intestinal aqueous phase and lowers chylomicron cholesterol occurrence in humans.     

Role of cytochrome bd oxidase from Corynebacterium glutamicum in growth and lysine production

Corynebacterium glutamicum possesses two terminal oxidases, cytochrome aa3 and cytochrome bd. Cytochrome aa3 forms a supercomplex with the cytochrome bc1 complex, which contains an unusual diheme cytochrome c1. Both the bc1 -aa3 supercomplex and cytochrome bd transfer reducing equivalents from menaquinol to oxygen; however, they differ in their proton translocation efficiency by a factor of three. Here, we analyzed the role of cytochrome bd for growth and lysine production. When cultivated in glucose minimal medium, a cydAB deletion mutant of C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 grew like the wild type in the exponential phase, but growth thereafter was inhibited, leading to a biomass formation 40% less than that of the wild type. Constitutive overproduction of functional cytochrome bd oxidase in ATCC 13032 led to a reduction of the growth rate by approximately 45% and of the maximal biomass by approximately 35%, presumably as a consequence of increased electron flow through the inefficient cytochrome bd oxidase. In the L-lysine-producing C. glutamicum strain MH20-22B, deletion of the cydAB genes had only minor effects on growth rate and biomass formation, but lysine production was increased by approximately 12%. Thus, the respiratory chain was shown to be a target for improving amino acid production by C. glutamicum.     

Reef location has a greater impact than coral bleaching severity on the microbiome of Pocillopora acuta

Coral Reefs - Coral reefs are increasingly threatened by heat stress events leading to coral bleaching. In 2016, a mass bleaching event affected large parts of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Whilst...