发酵透明质酸寡糖兽疫链球菌工程菌株的构建

透明质酸(HA)广泛应用于医学、化妆品、食品等领域。HA的生物活性取决于其分子量(M_w)。透明质酸寡糖由于具有重要的生理活性与特殊生理功能,在医药领域具有重要的应用前景。兽疫链球菌因其发酵周期短、生产强度较强的特点,在商业生产HA上具有广泛的应用。为了高效发酵合成透明质酸寡糖和解决发酵过程的溶氧问题,文中通过在兽疫链球菌WSH-24中过表达透明质酸合酶HasA以及优化表达水蛭来源的透明质酸酶LHAase。重组菌株摇瓶发酵24h,透明质酸寡糖积累至0.97g/L,比野生菌提高了182.0%。在3L发酵罐中发酵24 h,透明质酸寡糖生产强度为294.2 mg/(L·h),HA积累至7.06 g/L,比野生菌的罐上水平提高了112.4%。文中所构建的发酵合成透明质酸寡糖的兽疫链球菌重组菌株具有重要的应用前景。     

Enhanced hyaluronic acid production of Streptococcus zooepidemicus by an intermittent alkaline-stress strategy

Aims: Enhanced hyaluronic acid (HA) production of Streptococcus zooepidemicus by redirecting carbon flux through an intermittent alkaline‐stress strategy. Methods and Results: pH value was kept at 7·0 for the first 6 h, and then intermittently switched to 8·5 for 1 h and back to 7·0 for 1 h until the end of fermentation at 16 h (one pH switch cycle every 2 h). With this intermittent alkaline‐stress strategy, HA production was increased to 6·5 ± 0·2 g l^?1 from 5·0 ± 0·1 g l^?1 of the control, in which pH was always kept at 7·0. In addition, biomass and lactic acid concentration decreased by 24% and 14%, respectively, while acetic acid concentration increased by 10% under intermittent alkaline stress. The redirection of carbon flux from lactic acid to acetic acid was further supported by the decreased lactate dehydrogenase activity and the increased acetate kinase activity. As indicated by the increased NADH oxidase (NOX) activity, intermittent alkaline‐stress induced a more oxidative intracellular environment which would facilitate HA synthesis. Conclusions: Overproduction of HA was realized by redirecting carbon flux through the proposed intermittent alkaline‐stress strategy. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study clearly demonstrated the importance of metabolic‐pathway‐analysis based fermentation strategy in industrial processes and provided an alternative optimization approach for high viscosity fermentation.     

Analysis of metabolic fluxes for hyaluronic acid (HA) production by Streptococcus zooepidemicus

Summary A detailed metabolic flux analysis (MFA) for hyaluronic acid (HA) production by Streptococcus zooepidemicus was carried out. A metabolic network was constructed for the metabolism of S. zooepidemicus. Fluxes through these reactions were estimated by MFA using accumulation rates of biomass and product, consumption rate of glucose in batch fermentation and dissolved oxygen-controlled fermentation. The changes of the fluxes were observed at different stages of batch fermentation and in different dissolved oxygen tension (DOT)-controlled fermentation processes. The effects of metabolic nodes on HA accumulation under various culture conditions were investigated. The results showed that high concentration of glucose in the medium did not affect metabolic flux distribution, but did influence the uptake rate of glucose. HA synthesis was influenced by DOT via flux redistribution in the principal node. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) produced in the fermentation process are associated with cell growth and HA synthesis.     

Stable production of hyaluronic acid in Streptococcus zooepidemicus chemostats operated at high dilution rate

Hyaluronic acid is routinely produced through fermentation of both Group A and C streptococci. Despite significant production costs associated with short fermentations and removal of contaminating proteins released during entry into stationary phase, hyaluronic acid is typically produced in batch rather than continuous culture. The main reason is that hyaluronic acid synthesis has been found to be unstable in continuous culture except at very low dilution rates. Here, we investigated the mechanisms underlying this instability and developed a stable, high dilution rate (0.4 h-1) chemostat process for both chemically defined and complex media operating for more than 150 h of production. In chemically defined medium, the product yield was 25% higher in chemostat cultures than in conventional batch culture when arginine or glucose was the limiting substrate. In contrast, glutamine limitation resulted in higher ATP requirements and a yield similar to that observed in batch culture. In complex, glucose-limited medium, ATP requirements were greatly reduced but biomass synthesis was favored over hyaluronic acid and no improvement in hyaluronic acid yield was observed. The successful establishment of continuous culture at high dilution rate enables both commercial production at reduced cost and a more rational characterization and optimization of hyaluronic acid production in streptococci.     

采用计算流体力学技术研究搅拌对兽疫链球菌发酵生产透明质酸的影响

搅拌是影响透明质酸(HA)发酵的一个重要因素,然而有关搅拌对HA发酵影响的认识存在较大争议。本研究采用计算流体力学(CFD)技术深入研究了搅拌对菌体生长和HA合成的影响。结果表明,菌体量和HA产量受搅拌转速的影响很小,而HA分子量随着转速的增加呈现出先增加后降低的趋势。分阶段控制转速研究表明转速对HA分子量的影响主要体现在HA合成阶段。CFD计算结果表明随着搅拌转速的增加,混合时间降低的同时反应器内部的剪切速率明显增加。最终通过改变搅拌桨组合方式的手段有效地解决了上述矛盾,并使得HA分子量提高23.9%。     

A serum-free medium for colony growth and hyaluronic acid production by Streptococcus zooepidemicus NJUST01

A hyaluronic acid (HA)-producing strain, Streptococcus zooepidemicus NJUST01, can grow in a serum-free agar medium, with starch as exclusive carbon source, but not glucose, sucrose, dextrine, xylose, or lactose. In this starch medium, the strain NJUST01 reproduced successively at 37°C for 60 generations, with no obvious variation on morphology and physiology, but colonies of the strain after 60th generation could not produce a clear hemolytic zone on sheep blood agar plates. Hyaluronic acid production by the strain NJUST01 was analyzed relative to the starch medium. Employing a multifactor cross experiment, an optimum medium revealed for hyaluronic acid production was composed of 5% starch, 0.3% glucose, 0.5% peptone, 0.15% MgSO₄, and 2.0% K₂HPO₄. The amount of HA 6.7 g/l was obtained in batch fermentation on a rotary shaker at 37°C, 220 rpm for 36 h.     

Proteome analysis of Streptococcus suis serotype 2

Outbreaks in humans, caused by Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (SS2), were reported in 1998 and 2005 in China. However, the mechanism of SS2-associated infection remains unclear. For the first time, a 2-D gel approach combined with MS was used to establish a comprehensive 2-D reference map for aiding our understanding of the pathogenicity of SS2. The identification of 694 out of 834 processed spots revealed 373 proteins. Most of the identified proteins were located in the cytoplasm and were involved in energy metabolism, protein synthesis, and cellular processes. Proteins that were abundant in the 2-DE gels could be linked mainly to housekeeping functions in carbohydrate metabolism, protein quality control and translation. 2-DE of secretory proteins was performed using IPG strips of pH 4-7. Among the 102 protein spots processed, 87 spots representing 77 proteins were successfully identified. Some virulence-associated proteins of SS2 were found, including arginine deiminase, ornithine carbamoyl-transferase, carbamate kinase, muramidase-released protein precursor, extracellular factor, and suilysin. Enolase and endopeptidase have been proposed as putative virulence-associated factors in this study. The 2-D reference map might provide a powerful tool for analyzing the virulence factor and the regulatory network involved in the pathogenicity of this microorganism.     

Proteomic investigation of the impact of oxygen on the protein profiles of hyaluronic acid‐producing Streptococcus zooepidemicus

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear and negatively charged polysaccharide regularly used in medicine and cosmetics. Recently Streptococcus zooepidemicus has been exploited in the fermentation industry to produce HA. Many studies showed that higher amounts of HA were produced under aerobic condition compared to anaerobic conditions. To explore the effect of oxygen on the HA synthesis in S. zooepidemicus, 2‐DE was used to compare the proteomes of aerobically and anaerobically fermented bacteria to identify proteins, which might be associated with the influence of oxygen on the HA synthesis. Totally nine pairs of 2‐DE gels collected from three batches were compared and nine overexpressed proteins were observed in aerobically fermented bacteria. These proteins were identified by LC/tandem MS as dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase, UDP‐acetyl‐glucosamine pyrophosphoylase, dihydrolipoamide‐S‐acetyltransferase and acetoin dehydrogenase α and β chains, respectively. These upregulated proteins were involved in acetoin dissimilation, the central carbon metabolism and the HA anabolic pathway, implicating that oxygen might augment the expression of genes that are involved in central energy metabolism, acetoin reutilization and HA biosynthesis to enhance the amount of acetyl‐CoA as such that more acetyl‐CoA can be diverged from the central carbon metabolism to replenish acetyl‐CoA for the HA synthesis.     

兽疫链球菌中与透明质酸合成相关新基因的高通量筛选及克隆

【目的】兽疫链球菌(Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus)中透明质酸主要的生物合成途径和相关基因已经被研究得比较透彻,探究一种挖掘与透明质酸合成相关新基因的策略。【方法】利用自杀质粒pSET4s::sacB在宿主基因组中的随机整合作用,筛选具有表型差异突变菌株构建突变体库,进一步利用连接介导PCR (Ligation mediated PCR,LM-PCR)方法和全基因组重测序,检测质粒整合位点,通过基因无痕敲除和回补实验验证插入位点。【结果】构建了包含150株具有表型差异突变株的突变体库;以荚膜合成能力缺失的1号突变株(M1)作为基础研究对象,检测到自杀质粒整合到基因组458 960位点上,破坏了编码塔格糖-6-磷酸激酶的lacC基因;无痕敲除lacC基因得到ΔlacC,表型分析发现ΔlacC表现为粘性荚膜特性;进一步全基因组重测序发现,除了lacC基因位点存在插入突变,206 613位点存在碱基G缺失,导致编码透明质酸合成酶的hasA基因发生移码突变,且回补hasA基因后,M1恢复粘性荚膜合成能力。【结论】M1突变株粘性荚膜合成能力的缺失由hasA基因功能缺失引起,与lacC基因功能缺失无关。初步建立了兽疫链球菌中高通量筛选与透明质酸合成相关新基因的策略,为今后挖掘新基因奠定了基础。     

Proteome of the bacterium Mycoplasma penetrans

A proteome map of Mycoplasma penetrans has been constructed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis in combination with mass spectrometry (MS). Mycoplasma penetrans infects the urogenital and respiratory tracts of humans. A total of 207 spots were characterized with MS and, in comparing the experimental data with the DNA sequence-derived predictions, it was possible to assign these 207 spots to 153 genes. The Pro-Q Diamond phosphoprotein dye technology was used for the fluorescent detection of 26 phosphoproteins in the 4-7 pH range.     

Amplifying the cellular reduction potential of Streptococcus zooepidemicus

The valuable pharmaceutical polymer, hyaluronic acid, is produced industrially using the gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Synthesis of this polymer is a significant energetic burden upon the microorganism hence the native NADH oxidase gene was cloned and overexpressed to increase the energy yield of catabolism during aerobic cultivation on glucose. Elevated NADH oxidase levels led to a decline in lactic acid generation and prevented ethanol formation, leaving acetate as the main fermentation product. Biomass yield increased due to the energy gained from the formation of acetate. Evaluation of the acetate flux control coefficient over a range of NADH oxidase expression levels revealed that acetate production was sensitive to the NADH oxidase level. However, at high NADH oxidase levels, the acetate flux was mainly influenced by another factor. The concomitant excretion of pyruvate at high NADH oxidase levels suggested that the flux through the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex was limiting the conversion of pyruvate to acetate.     

Enhanced hyaluronic acid production by a two-stage culture strategy based on the modeling of batch and fed-batch cultivation of Streptococcus zooepidemicus

This study aimed to enhance hyaluronic acid (HA) production by a two-stage culture strategy based on the modeling of batch and fed-batch culture of Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Batch culture had higher specific HA synthesis rate while fed-batch culture had higher specific cell growth rate. The lower specific HA synthesis rate in fed-batch culture resulted from the competition of cell growth for the common precursors at a low substrate concentration. Based on the modeling of batch and fed-batch culture of S. zooepidemicus, a two-stage culture strategy was proposed to enhance HA production. S. zooepidemicus were cultured in a fed-batch mode with sucrose concentration maintained at 1.0+/-0.2g/L during 0-8h and then batch culture was performed during 8-20h with an initial sucrose concentration of 15g/L. With the proposed two-stage culture strategy, HA production was increased to 6.6g/L compared with 5.0g/L in batch culture with the same total sucrose. The enhanced HA production by the proposed two-stage culture strategy resulted from the decreased inhibition of cell growth and the increased transformation rate of sucrose to HA.     

Effect of pH,agitation and aeration on hyaluronic acid production byStreptococcus zooepidemicus

Summary The optimum pH for both the rate of production and yield of hyaluronic acid (HA) byStreptococcus zooepidemicus from glucose medium was 6.7±0.2 under anaerobic conditions. High agitation rates (600 rpm) gave superior results compared to 300 rpm. Aeration of the culture (0.3 VVM) improved the HA yield, but not the rate of production and lead to some acetate and CO₂ being formed, in addition to lactate and HA.     

Effect of expressing polyhydroxybutyrate synthesis genes (phbCAB) in Streptococcus zooepidemicus on production of lactic acid and hyaluronic acid

Hyaluronic acid (HA) has been industrially produced using the gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Large amount of lactic acid formation was one of the important factors that restricted cell growth and HA productivity and lowered the substrate to HA conversion efficiency in a fermentor. In this study, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) synthesis genes (phbCAB) of Ralstonia eutropha were cloned from the plasmid pBHR68 and were inserted into the plasmid pEU308, an expression vector for gram-positive bacteria. The plasmid was transformed into S. zooepidemicus by electroporation. β-Ketothiolase (PhbA), acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (PhbB), and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase (PhbC) activity assays were carried out to demonstrate the expression of these genes. The PhbA and PhbB activities were 3.13 and 1.23 U mg⁻¹, respectively. No PhbC activities were detected. In shake flask studies, there was no obvious difference between the wild-type and recombinant S. zooepidemicus harboring phbCAB genes in terms of lactic acid and HA formation. However, in fermentor studies, the recombinant produced only 40 g L⁻¹ lactic acid and 7.5 g L⁻¹ HA, whereas the wild type produced 65 g L⁻¹ lactic acid and 5.5 g L⁻¹ HA. These results suggested that expression of phbCAB genes in S. zooepidemicus could help regulate HA production metabolism. Because the lactic acid formation in S. zooepidemicus was sensitive to cellular oxidation/reduction potential, it is proposed that the PHB synthesis pathway could act as a regulator to adjust the cellular oxidation/reduction potential. This is the first study demonstrating that PHA synthesis related to energy and carbon metabolism could be employed as a pathway to regulate other cellular metabolism and possibly to regulate the production of other metabolic products.     

Microbial production of low molecular weight hyaluronic acid by adding hydrogen peroxide and ascorbate in batch culture of Streptococcus zooepidemicus

Microbial production of low molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HA) by the addition of hydrogen peroxide and ascorbate during the batch culture of Streptococcus zooepidemicus was investigated. Hydrogen peroxide (1.0 mmol/g HA) and ascorbate (0.5 mmol/g HA) were added at 8h and 12h to degrade HA. With the redox depolymerization of HA, the HA molecular weight decreased from 1,300 kDa for the control to 80 kDa, and the average broth viscosity during 8-16 h decreased from 360 mPa s for the control to 290 mPa s. The average oxygen mass transfer coefficient K(L)a increased from 10h(-1) for the control to 35 h(-1) and the average dissolved oxygen level increased from 1% of air saturation in the control to 10%. HA production increased from 5.0 g/L for the control to 6.5 g/L, and contributed to the increased redox potential and energy charge. This novel process not only significantly enhanced production of low molecular weight HA, but also improved purification efficiency due to a decreased broth viscosity. Low molecular weight HA finds applications in biomedical and healthcare fields.     

High production of hyaluronic and lactic acids by Streptococcus zooepidemicus in fed-batch culture using commercial and marine peptones from fishing by-products

The combined production of biomass, hyaluronic acid (HA) and lactic acid (LA) in a glucose fed-batch system was studied. The complex culture media used were formulated with commercial and residual peptones from fish by-products. In all cases, fed-batch fermentations increased the productive period of HA and LA. Tryptone led to the highest productions but with the peptones from shark by-products similar LA concentrations and prominent HA levels were reached. Moreover, with this residual peptone higher molecular weight of HA were achieved. On the other hand, the equations proposed adjusted with accuracy and high statistical robustness the experimental kinetic profiles.     

Tools for genetic engineering in the amino acid-producing bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum

During the last decades, the gram-positive soil bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum has been shown to be a very versatile microorganism for the large-scale fermentative production of L-amino acids. Up to now, a vast amount of techniques and tools for genetic engineering and amplification of relevant structural genes have been developed. The objectives of this study are to summarize the published literature on tools for genetic engineering in C. glutamicum and to focus on new sophisticated and highly efficient methods in the fields of DNA transfer techniques, cloning vectors, integrative genetic tools, and antibiotic-free self-cloning. This repertoire of C. glutamicum methodology provides an experimental basis for efficient genetic analyses of the recently completed genome sequence.