Structure and properties of the extracellular inulinase of Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556

In the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus two forms of inulinase were present, namely, an inulinase secreted into the culture fluid and an inulinase retained in the cell wall. Both forms were purified and analyzed by denaturing and nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. With the use of endo-beta-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase H, it was established that the enzyme retained in the cell wall and the enzyme secreted into the culture fluid have similar subunits consisting of a 64-kDa polypeptide with varying amounts of carbohydrate (26 to 37% of the molecular mass). The two forms of inulinase differed in size because of their differences in subunit aggregation. The enzyme present in the culture fluid was a dimer, and the enzyme retained in the cell wall was a tetramer. The differences in oligomerization did not affect the apparent Km values towards the substrates sucrose and raffinose. These findings support the hypothesis that the retention of glycoproteins in the yeast cell wall may be caused by a permeability barrier towards larger glycoproteins. The amino-terminal end of inulinase was determined and compared with the amino terminus of the closely related invertase. The kinetic and structural evidence indicates that in yeasts two distinct beta-fructosidases exist, namely, invertase and inulinase.     

Structure and properties of the extracellular inulinase of Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556.

In the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus two forms of inulinase were present, namely, an inulinase secreted into the culture fluid and an inulinase retained in the cell wall. Both forms were purified and analyzed by denaturing and nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. With the use of endo-beta-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase H, it was established that the enzyme retained in the cell wall and the enzyme secreted into the culture fluid have similar subunits consisting of a 64-kDa polypeptide with varying amounts of carbohydrate (26 to 37% of the molecular mass). The two forms of inulinase differed in size because of their differences in subunit aggregation. The enzyme present in the culture fluid was a dimer, and the enzyme retained in the cell wall was a tetramer. The differences in oligomerization did not affect the apparent Km values towards the substrates sucrose and raffinose. These findings support the hypothesis that the retention of glycoproteins in the yeast cell wall may be caused by a permeability barrier towards larger glycoproteins. The amino-terminal end of inulinase was determined and compared with the amino terminus of the closely related invertase. The kinetic and structural evidence indicates that in yeasts two distinct beta-fructosidases exist, namely, invertase and inulinase.     

Continuous-culture study of the regulation of glucose and fructose transport in Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556.

Regulation of transport of D-glucose and D-fructose was studied in Kluyveromyces marxianus grown in continuous culture. Both substrates could be transported by at least two different transport systems, low-affinity transport and high-affinity proton-sugar symport. The low-affinity transporter, specific for both glucose and fructose, was constitutively present and was apparently not regulated by carbon catabolite repression. Regulation of the activity of the glucose- and fructose-specific proton symport systems appeared to proceed mainly through catabolite repression. Activation of symport did not need the presence of specific inductor molecules in the medium. Nevertheless, the capacities of the proton-sugar symporters varied in cells grown on a wide variety of carbon sources. The possibility that the control of proton symport activity is related to the presence of specific intracellular metabolites is discussed.     

Growth of the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556 on different sugar combinations as sole carbon and energy source

The yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus has been pointed out as a promising microorganism for a variety of industrial bioprocesses. Although genetic tools have been developed for this yeast and different potential applications have been investigated, quantitative physiological studies have rarely been reported. Here, we report and discuss the growth, substrate consumption, metabolite formation, and respiratory parameters of K. marxianus CBS 6556 during aerobic batch bioreactor cultivations, using a defined medium with different sugars as sole carbon and energy source, at 30 and 37 °C. Cultivations were carried out both on single sugars and on binary sugar mixtures. Carbon balances closed within 95 to 101 % in all experiments. Biomass and CO₂ were the main products of cell metabolism, whereas by-products were always present in very low proportion (<3 % of the carbon consumed), as long as full aerobiosis was guaranteed. On all sugars tested as sole carbon and energy source (glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose, and galactose), the maximum specific growth rate remained between 0.39 and 0.49 h^?1, except for galactose at 37 °C, which only supported growth at 0.31 h^?1. Different growth behaviors were observed on the binary sugar mixtures investigated (glucose and lactose, glucose and galactose, lactose and galactose, glucose and fructose, galactose and fructose, fructose and lactose), and the observations were in agreement with previously published data on the sugar transport systems in K. marxianus. We conclude that K. marxianus CBS 6556 does not present any special nutritional requirements; grows well in the range of 30 to 37 °C on different sugars; is capable of growing on sugar mixtures in a shorter period of time than Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is interesting from an industrial point of view; and deviates tiny amounts of carbon towards metabolite formation, as long as full aerobiosis is maintained.     

Ethanol formation and enzyme activities around glucose-6-phosphate in Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556 exposed to glucose or lactose excess

The aim of this work was to investigate the physiology of Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556 in terms of its low tendency to form ethanol under exposure to sugar excess, and the split of carbon flux which takes place at the level of glucose-6-phosphate. Measurements were performed in batch cultivations, and after a glucose or a lactose pulse applied to chemostat-grown respiring cells (with a dilution rate of 0.1 h(-1)). No ethanol formation was observed in batch cultivations or during pulse experiments, unless the oxygen supply was shut down, indicating that this organism is more strictly Crabtree-negative than its close relative K. lactis and other known Crabtree-negative yeasts. During the pulse experiments, activities of phosphoglucoisomerase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and phosphoglucomutase in cell-free extracts remained rather constant, at higher levels than those of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown at similar conditions. When cells were exposed to glucose concentrations as high as 26 gl(-1), the activity of phosphoglucomutase was higher than that in cells exposed to 14 gl(-1) glucose, whereas the activities of phosphoglucoisomerase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase did not change. Our results suggest that the low tendency for ethanol formation in K. marxianus might be a consequence of this yeast's capacity of keeping the glycolytic flux constant, due at least in part to the diversion of carbon flux towards the biosynthesis of carbohydrates and towards the pentose phosphate pathway.     

Purification and characterization of the enantioselective esterase from Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 1553

An intracellular esterase from the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 1553 with interesting enantioselective hydrolytic activity towards racemic esters of 1,2-O-isopropylidene glycerol (IPG) was purified and characterized. Optimal culture conditions for the obtainment of the enantioselective esterase on a 5 l-fermentation scale were investigated. Two esterase activities (EST1 and EST2) in the crude cell extract were identified by native PAGE with specific activity staining and separated from each other by anion-exchange chromatography. EST1 showed higher activity and enantioselectivity than EST2 in the resolution of racemic IPG acetate and was further purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and preparative electrophoresis (final specific activity approximately = 300 U mg(-1), showing a main protein band with a molecular mass of 29 kDa. EST1 showed optimal activity between pH 8.0 and 10.0 and was stable in the pH range 7.0-10.0. Moreover, it was rather thermostable and active up to 80 degrees C, and retained most of its activity in the presence of 15% (v/v) of various organic solvents. The enzyme showed similar Vmax in the hydrolysis of the acetate esters of IPG, whereas the Km value towards (S)-IPG acetate was significantly lower than the one towards the (R)-enantiomer (5.3 and 70 microM, respectively). Finally, comparison of EST1 activity in the presence of different glycerol esters and synthetic substrates with different chain lengths showed a strong preference of this biocatalyst for short-chain substrates.     

Kinetic parameters and thermodynamic values of beta-xylosidase production by Kluyveromyces marxianus

Kinetic parameters for production of beta-xylosidase by Kluyveromyces marxianus were determined in growth media containing glucose, xylose, cellobiose, sucrose and lactose as carbon sources. K. marxianus achieved maximum beta-xylosidase specific product yield (Y(P/X)) when grown on xylose. Basal level of activity was achieved in cultures grown on glucose. Kinetic parameters of enzyme production and cell mass formation were correlated. Enzyme synthesis was regulated by an induction mechanism and growth-dependent repression mechanism. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the cell system exerted protection against thermal inactivation. A partially purified enzyme showed good stability when incubated at 60 degrees C and was quite stable at a pH of 5.0-7.0 and may be exploited for commercial applications.     

青霉菊粉酶的产生和性质

由淀粉通过葡萄糖异构化生产高果糖糖浆,生产上受到原料的限制。果糖另一种来源是菊粉（Inulin）。菊粉是以β-2,1果糖苷键连接的一种多聚果糖,其末端含有一个蔗糖残基,它作为贮存性多糖大量存在于菊芋（Helianthus tuberosus）、菊巨(chicoryintybus)、大丽花（Dahlia pinnata）等多种植物中,至今尚未得到很好利用。菊粉可通过化学法或酶法水解生成果糖。利用菊粉酶     

Production of extracellular inulinase in high-cell-density fed-batch cultures of Kluyveromyces marxianus

The production of extracellular inulinase (\-1,2-d-fructan fructanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.7) was studied in fed-batch cultures of the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus CBS 6556 at 30 and at 40° C. At both temperatures, the final biomass concentration exceeded 100 g·l^–1 and more than 2 g enzyme. L^–1 of culture supernatant was produced. The biomass yield on O₂ at 40° C was substantially lower than at 30°C. Nevertheless, at 40° C a growth rate of 0.20 h^–1 could be maintained for a longer period than at 30° C. The unexpected higher O₂-transfer rate at 40°C is probably due to a lower viscosity of the culture broth. The 40°C fermentation took only 33 h as compared to 42 h at 30° C. These results indicate that K. marxianus is a promising host for the extracellular production of heterologous proteins under the control of the inulinase promoter.     

Production of inulinase by mixed culture of Aspergillus niger and Kluyveromyces marxianus

Summary Inulinase activity produced by a mixed culture of Aspergillus niger and Kluyveromyces marxianus growing on Jerusalem artichoke powder was investigated. Inulinase produced by this mixed culture had a higher invertase-type activity than inulinase from respective monocultures. When hydrolysis was carried out at 50°C with Jerusalem artichoke exctract (total sugar 16% w/v) at pH 5.0, 90% hydrolysis was achieved after 4 h with 5% v/v of crude cell free enzyme preparation.     

Production of High-content Galacto-oligosaccharide by Enzyme Catalysis and Fermentation with Kluyveromyces marxianus

Of three β-galactosidases from Aspergillus oryzae, Kluyveromyces lactis and Bacillus sp., used for the production of low-content galacto- oligosaccharides (GOS) from lactose, the latter produced the highest yield of trisaccharides and tetrasaccharides. GOS production was enhanced by mixing β-galactosidase glucose oxidase. The low-content GOS syrups, produced either by β-galactosidase alone or by the mixed enzyme system, were subjected to the fermentation by Kluyveromyces marxianus, whereby glucose, galactose, lactose and other disaccharides were depleted, resulting in up to 97% and 98% on a dry weight basis of high-content GOS with the yields of 31% and 32%, respectively. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Production, purification and characterization of an extracellular inulinase from Kluyveromyces marxianus var. bulgaricus

The yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus var. bulgaricus produced large amounts of extracellular inulinase activity when grown on inulin, sucrose, fructose and glucose as carbon source. This protein has been purified to homogeneity by using successive DEAE-Trisacryl Plus and Superose 6HR 10/30 columns. The purified enzyme showed a relative molecular weight of 57 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and 77 kDa by gel filtration in Superose 6 HR 10/30. Analysis by SDS-PAGE showed a unique polypeptide band with Coomassie Blue stain and nondenaturing PAGE of the purified enzyme obtained from media with different carbon sources showed the band, too, when stained for glucose oxidase activity. The optimal hydrolysis temperature for sucrose, raffinose and inulin was 55°C and the optimal pH for sucrose was 4.75. The apparent K _m values for sucrose, raffinose and inulin are 4.58, 7.41 and 86.9 mg/ml, respectively. Thin layer chromatography showed that inulinase from K. marxianus var. bulgaricus was capable of hydrolyzing different substrates (sucrose, raffinose and inulin), releasing monosaccharides and oligosaccharides. The results obtained suggest the hypothesis that enzyme production was constitutive. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology (2000) 25, 63–69. Received 17 November 1999/ Accepted in revised form 30 May 2000     

Nisin Production by a Mixed-Culture System Consisting of Lactococcus lactis and Kluyveromyces marxianus

To control the pH during antimicrobial peptide (nisin) production by a lactic acid bacterium, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (ATCC11454), a novel method involving neither addition of alkali nor a separation system such as a ceramic membrane filter and electrodialyzer was developed. A mixed culture of L. lactis and Kluyveromyces marxianus, which was isolated from kefir grains, was utilized in the developed system. The interaction between lactate production by L. lactis and its assimilation by K. marxianus was used to control the pH. To utilize the interaction of these microorganisms to maintain high-level production of nisin, the kinetics of growth of, and production of lactate, acetate, and nisin by, L. lactis were investigated. The kinetics of growth of and lactic acid consumption by K. marxianus were also investigated. Because the pH of the medium could be controlled by the lactate consumption of K. marxianus and the specific lactate consumption rate of K. marxianus could be controlled by changing the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, a cascade pH controller coupled with DO control was developed. As a result, the pH was kept constant because the lactate level was kept low and nisin accumulated in the medium to a high level compared with that attained using other pH control strategies, such as with processes lacking pH control and those in which pH is controlled by addition of alkali.     

Continuous ethanol production by a flocculating strain of Kluyveromyces marxianus: bioreactor performance

A flocculating strain of Kluyveromyces marxianus was used for alcoholic fermentation in a continuous bioreactor working with zero residual concentration in effluent. Specific kinetic parameters were improved by increasing dilution rate, which is similar to results obtained with ultrafiltration systems. Specific biomass accumulation rate had always a value greater than 92.5% of specific biomass growth rate and was independent of the dilution rate. Productivity is shown to be 12.5 times greater than in conventional continuous operation and is directly proportional to dilution rate. Maximum biomass concentration also presents a linear relationship with dilution rate. The largest obtained biomass concentration is 8 times greater than in a conventional continuous fermentor.     

Effect of Sugar Concentration in Jerusalem Artichoke Extract on Kluyveromyces marxianus Growth and Ethanol Production

The effect of inulin sugars concentration on the growth and ethanol production by Kluyveromyces marxianus UCD (FST) 55-82 was studied. A maximum ethanol concentration of 102 g/liter was obtained from 250 g of sugars per liter initial concentration. The maximum specific growth rate varied from 0.44 h⁻¹ at 50 g of sugar per liter to 0.13 h⁻¹ at 300 g of sugar per liter, whereas the ethanol yield remained almost constant at 0.45 g of ethanol per g of sugars utilized.     

马克斯克鲁维酵母的木糖和阿拉伯糖发酵

马克斯克鲁维酵母作为非常规酵母在燃料乙醇发酵中受到人们越来越多的关注。马克斯克鲁维具有天然的发酵戊糖的能力,但不同菌株的发酵能力存在较大差异。本研究比较了3株马克斯克鲁维菌株Kluyveromyces marxianus 9009/1911/1727(K.m 9009/1911/1727)在不同温度下的木糖和阿拉伯糖的发酵性能差异,结果发现不同发酵温度下,3株菌在耗糖速率、糖醇产率均表现出了显著的差异。菌株K.m 9009和K.m 1727在40℃下的发酵性能均优于30℃,这充分体现了马克斯克鲁维酵母的高温发酵优势。针对发酵差异,采用PCR方法获得3个不同菌株的戊糖代谢途径中的5种关键代谢酶(XR、XDH、XK、AR和LAD)的基因序列,并利用Clustalx 2.1进行了序列比对。结果显示3株菌的相关基因与文献中报道的1株克鲁维酵母的相应关键酶氨基酸编码序列相似性达98%以上,并且差异的氨基酸不在酶的关键位点处。在此基础上,通过Real-time实验,对木糖发酵差异最为明显的K.m 1727和K.m 1911的木糖代谢过程4个关键酶(XR、XDH、XK和ADH)的基因表达量进行测定,其结果显示对于耐热菌株K.m 1727,XDH和XK基因表达量低是导致木糖代谢过程中木糖醇积累、乙醇产量低的主要原因。最后,将所测得的马克斯克鲁维酵母的戊糖代谢关键酶序列与其他不同种属相比对,确定了其木糖和阿拉伯糖代谢途径,为进一步利用代谢工程方法提高戊糖发酵性能奠定了基础。