Corynebacterium glutamicum tailored for efficient isobutanol production

We recently engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum for aerobic production of 2-ketoisovalerate by inactivation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, pyruvate:quinone oxidoreductase, transaminase B, and additional overexpression of the ilvBNCD genes, encoding acetohydroxyacid synthase, acetohydroxyacid isomeroreductase, and dihydroxyacid dehydratase. Based on this strain, we engineered C. glutamicum for the production of isobutanol from glucose under oxygen deprivation conditions by inactivation of l-lactate and malate dehydrogenases, implementation of ketoacid decarboxylase from Lactococcus lactis, alcohol dehydrogenase 2 (ADH2) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and expression of the pntAB transhydrogenase genes from Escherichia coli. The resulting strain produced isobutanol with a substrate-specific yield (Y_P/S) of 0.60 ± 0.02 mol per mol of glucose. Interestingly, a chromosomally encoded alcohol dehydrogenase rather than the plasmid-encoded ADH2 from S. cerevisiae was involved in isobutanol formation with C. glutamicum, and overexpression of the corresponding adhA gene increased the Y_P/S to 0.77 ± 0.01 mol of isobutanol per mol of glucose. Inactivation of the malic enzyme significantly reduced the Y_P/S, indicating that the metabolic cycle consisting of pyruvate and/or phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, malate dehydrogenase, and malic enzyme is responsible for the conversion of NADH+H⁺ to NADPH+H⁺. In fed-batch fermentations with an aerobic growth phase and an oxygen-depleted production phase, the most promising strain, C. glutamicum ΔaceE Δpqo ΔilvE ΔldhA Δmdh(pJC4ilvBNCD-pntAB)(pBB1kivd-adhA), produced about 175 mM isobutanol, with a volumetric productivity of 4.4 mM h⁻¹, and showed an overall Y_P/S of about 0.48 mol per mol of glucose in the production phase.     

Current knowledge on isobutanol production with Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Corynebacterium glutamicum

Due to steadily rising crude oil prices great efforts have been made to develop designer bugs for the fermentative production of higher alcohols, such as 2-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-Methyl-1-propanol (isobutanol), which all possess quality characteristics comparable to traditional oil based fuels. The common metabolic engineering approach uses the last two steps of the Ehrlich pathway, catalyzed by 2-ketoacid decarboxylase and an alcohol dehydrogenase converting the branched chain 2-ketoacids of L-isoleucine, L-leucine, and L-valine into the respective alcohols. This strategy was successfully used to engineer well suited and industrially employed bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of higher alcohols. Among these alcohols, isobutanol is currently the most promising one regarding final titer and yield. This article summarizes the current knowledge and achievements on isobutanol production with E. coli, B. subtilis and C. glutamicum regarding the metabolic engineering approaches and process conditions.     

Metabolic Engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for Methanol Metabolism

Methanol is already an important carbon feedstock in the chemical industry, but it has found only limited application in biotechnological production processes. This can be mostly attributed to the inability of most microbial platform organisms to utilize methanol as a carbon and energy source. With the aim to turn methanol into a suitable feedstock for microbial production processes, we engineered the industrially important but nonmethylotrophic bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum toward the utilization of methanol as an auxiliary carbon source in a sugar-based medium. Initial oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde was achieved by heterologous expression of a methanol dehydrogenase from Bacillus methanolicus, whereas assimilation of formaldehyde was realized by implementing the two key enzymes of the ribulose monophosphate pathway of Bacillus subtilis: 3-hexulose-6-phosphate synthase and 6-phospho-3-hexuloisomerase. The recombinant C. glutamicum strain showed an average methanol consumption rate of 1.7 ± 0.3 mM/h (mean ± standard deviation) in a glucose-methanol medium, and the culture grew to a higher cell density than in medium without methanol. In addition, [¹³C]methanol-labeling experiments revealed labeling fractions of 3 to 10% in the m + 1 mass isotopomers of various intracellular metabolites. In the background of a C. glutamicum Δald ΔadhE mutant being strongly impaired in its ability to oxidize formaldehyde to CO₂, the m + 1 labeling of these intermediates was increased (8 to 25%), pointing toward higher formaldehyde assimilation capabilities of this strain. The engineered C. glutamicum strains represent a promising starting point for the development of sugar-based biotechnological production processes using methanol as an auxiliary substrate.     

Metabolic Engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for Cadaverine Fermentation

Cadaverine, the expected raw material of polyamides, is produced by decarboxylation of L-lysine. If we could produce cadaverine from the cheapest sugar, and as a renewable resource, it would be an effective solution against global warming, but there has been no attempt to produce cadaverine from glucose by fermentation. We focused on Corynebacterium glutamicum, whose L-lysine fermentation ability is superior, and constructed a metabolically engineered C. glutamicum in which the L-homoserine dehydrogenase gene (hom) was replaced by the L-lysine decarboxylase gene (cadA) of Escherichia coli. In this recombinant strain, cadaverine was produced at a concentration of 2.6 g/l, equivalent to up to 9.1% (molecular yield) of the glucose transformed into cadaverine in neutralizing cultivation. This is the first report of cadaverine fermentation by C. glutamicum.     

Putrescine production by engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum

Here, we report the engineering of the industrially relevant Corynebacterium glutamicum for putrescine production. C. glutamicum grew well in the presence of up to 500 mM of putrescine. A reduction of the growth rate by 34% and of biomass formation by 39% was observed at 750 mM of putrescine. C. glutamicum was enabled to produce putrescine by heterologous expression of genes encoding enzymes of the arginine- and ornithine decarboxylase pathways from Escherichia coli. The results showed that the putrescine yield by recombinant C. glutamicum strains provided with the arginine-decarboxylase pathway was 40 times lower than the yield by strains provided with the ornithine decarboxylase pathway. The highest production efficiency was reached by overexpression of speC, encoding the ornithine decarboxylase from E. coli, in combination with chromosomal deletion of genes encoding the arginine repressor ArgR and the ornithine carbamoyltransferase ArgF. In shake-flask batch cultures this strain produced putrescine up to 6 g/L with a space time yield of 0.1 g/L/h. The overall product yield was about 24 mol% (0.12 g/g of glucose).     

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for L-serine production

Although L-serine proceeds in just three steps from the glycolytic intermediate 3-phosphoglycerate, and as much as 8% of the carbon assimilated from glucose is directed via L-serine formation, previous attempts to obtain a strain producing L-serine from glucose have not been successful. We functionally identified the genes serC and serB from Corynebacterium glutamicum, coding for phosphoserine aminotransferase and phosphoserine phosphatase, respectively. The overexpression of these genes, together with the third biosynthetic serA gene, serA(delta197), encoding an L-serine-insensitive 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, yielded only traces of L-serine, as did the overexpression of these genes in a strain with the L-serine dehydratase gene sdaA deleted. However, reduced expression of the serine hydroxymethyltransferase gene glyA, in combination with the overexpression of serA(delta197), serC, and serB, resulted in a transient accumulation of up to 16 mM L-serine in the culture medium. When sdaA was also deleted, the resulting strain, C. glutamicum delta sdaA::pK18mobglyA'(pEC-T18mob2serA(delta197)CB), accumulated up to 86 mM L-serine with a maximal specific productivity of 1.2 mmol h(-1) g (dry weight)(-1). This illustrates a high rate of L-serine formation and also utilization in the C. glutamicum wild type. Therefore, metabolic engineering of L-serine production from glucose can be achieved only by addressing the apparent key position of this amino acid in the central metabolism.     

Large-Scale Engineering of the Corynebacterium glutamicum Genome

The engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum is important for enhanced production of biochemicals. To construct an improved C. glutamicum genome, we developed a precise genome excision method based on the Cre/loxP recombination system and successfully deleted 11 distinct genomic regions identified by comparative analysis of C. glutamicum genomes. Despite the loss of several predicted open reading frames, the mutant cells exhibited normal growth under standard laboratory conditions. With a total of 250 kb (7.5% of the genome), the 11 genomic regions were loaded with cryptic prophages, transposons, and genes of unknown function which were dispensable for cell growth, indicating recent horizontal acquisitions to the genome. This provides an interesting background for functional genomic studies and can be used in the improvement of cell traits.     

代谢改造重组谷氨酸棒杆菌C4途径高效合成5-氨基乙酰丙酸

5-氨基乙酰丙酸(5-aminolevulinic acid,5-ALA)在医药和农业等领域有着广泛作用,目前主要采用大肠杆菌或谷氨酸棒杆菌以微生物发酵法合成.为了进一步提高谷氨酸棒杆菌合成5-ALA的能力,对其C4代谢途径进行了系统代谢改造.首先分别在谷氨酸棒杆菌中异源表达荚膜红杆菌和沼泽红假单胞菌的5-氨基乙酰丙酸...     

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for 2-ketoisovalerate production

2-Ketoisovalerate is used as a therapeutic agent, and a 2-ketoisovalerate-producing organism may serve as a platform for products deriving from this 2-keto acid. We engineered the wild type of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the growth-decoupled production of 2-ketoisovalerate from glucose by deletion of the aceE gene encoding the E1p subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, deletion of the transaminase B gene ilvE, and additional overexpression of the ilvBNCD genes, encoding the l-valine biosynthetic enzymes acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS), acetohydroxyacid isomeroreductase, and dihydroxyacid dehydratase. 2-Ketoisovalerate production was further improved by deletion of the pyruvate:quinone oxidoreductase gene pqo. In fed-batch fermentations at high cell densities, the newly constructed strains produced up to 188 ± 28 mM (21.8 ± 3.2 g liter(-1)) 2-ketoisovalerate and showed a product yield of about 0.47 ± 0.05 mol per mol (0.3 ± 0.03 g per g) of glucose and a volumetric productivity of about 4.6 ± 0.6 mM (0.53 ± 0.07 g liter(-1)) 2-ketoisovalerate per h in the overall production phase. In studying the influence of the three branched-chain 2-keto acids 2-ketoisovalerate, 2-ketoisocaproate, and 2-keto-3-methylvalerate on the AHAS activity, we observed a competitive inhibition of the AHAS enzyme by 2-ketoisovalerate.     

Glutamic acid production with gel-entrapped Corynebacterium glutamicum

A glutamic acid producing microorganism (Corynebacterium glutamicum) is entrapped in a polyacrylamide gel. These immobilized microorganisms were used to produce glutamic acid in successive batches of fresh medium. Free microorganisms similarly used produced much less glutamic acid under similar conditions.     

Engineering of sugar metabolism of Corynebacterium glutamicum for production of amino acid l-alanine under oxygen deprivation

Corynebacterium glutamicum was genetically engineered to produce l-alanine from sugar under oxygen deprivation. The genes associated with production of organic acids in C. glutamicum were inactivated and the alanine dehydrogenase gene (alaD) from Lysinibacillus sphaericus was overexpressed to direct carbon flux from organic acids to alanine. Although the alaD-expressing strain produced alanine from glucose under oxygen deprivation, its productivity was relatively low due to retarded glucose consumption. Homologous overexpression of the gapA gene encoding glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) in the alaD-expressing strain stimulated glucose consumption and consequently improved alanine productivity. In contrast gapA overexpression did not affect glucose consumption under aerobic conditions, indicating that oxygen deprivation engendered inefficient regeneration of NAD⁺ resulting in impaired GAPDH activity and reduced glucose consumption in the alanine-producing strains. Inactivation of the alanine racemase gene allowed production of l-alanine with optical purity greater than 99.5%. The resulting strain produced 98 g l⁻¹ of l-alanine after 32 h in mineral salts medium. Our results show promise for amino acid production under oxygen deprivation.     

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for production of sunscreen shinorine

Ultraviolet-absorbing chemicals are useful in cosmetics and skin care to prevent UV-induced skin damage. We demonstrate here that heterologous production of shinorine, which shows broad absorption maxima in the UV-A and UV-B region. A shinorine producing Corynebacterium glutamicum strain was constructed by expressing four genes from Actinosynnema mirum DSM 43827, which are responsible for the biosynthesis of shinorine from sedoheptulose-7-phosphate in the pentose phosphate pathway. Deletion of transaldolase encoding gene improved shinorine production by 5.2-fold. Among the other genes in pentose phosphate pathway, overexpression of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase encoding gene further increased shinorine production by 60% (19.1 mg/L). The genetic engineering of the pentose phosphate pathway in C. glutamicum improved shinorine production by 8.3-fold in total, and could be applied to produce the other chemicals derived from sedoheptulose-7-phosphate.     

L-Tyrosine production by Polyauxotrophic Mutants of Corynebacterium glutamicum

Polyauxotrophic mutants of Corynebacterium glutamicum which have additional requirements to L-phenylalanine were derived from L-tyrosine producing strains of phenylalanine auxotrophs, C. glutamicum KY 9189 and C. glutamicum KY 10233, and screened for L-tyrosine production. The increase of L-tyrosine production was noted in many auxotrophic mutants derived from both strains. Especially some double auxotrophs which require phenylalanine and purine, phenylalanine and histidine, or phenylalanine and cysteine produced significantly higher amounts of L-tyrosine compared to the parents, A phenylalanine and purine double auxotrophic strain LM–96 produced L-tyrosine at a concentration of 15.1 mg per ml in the medium containing 20% sucrose. L-Tyrosine production by the strain decreased at high concentrations of L-phenylalanine.     

谷氨酸棒杆菌生产琥珀酸的代谢工程研究进展

琥珀酸是一种具有重要应用价值的四碳平台化合物。微生物法发酵生产琥珀酸以其社会、环境和经济优势展现出良好的发展前景。谷氨酸棒杆菌被广泛应用于氨基酸、核苷酸等高附加值化学品的工业化生产,在厌氧条件下细胞处于生长停滞状态,但仍能高效利用碳源合成有机酸,通过代谢工程改造的谷氨酸棒杆菌有望成为理想的琥珀酸生产菌株。结合近年来谷氨酸棒杆菌生产琥珀酸取得的最新成果,本文综述了构建高产琥珀酸工程菌株的代谢工程策略、底物的扩展利用,并展望了将来的研究方向。