Monosaccharide precursors for boosting chondroitin-like capsular polysaccharide production

Chondroitin sulfate is a well-known bioactive molecule, widely used as an anti-osteoarthritis drug, that is nowadays mainly produced by animal tissue sources with unsafe extraction procedures. Recent studies have explored an integrated biotechnological–chemical strategy to obtain a chondroitin sulfate precursor from Escherichia coli K4 capsular polysaccharide, demonstrating the influence of environmental and growth conditions on capsule synthesis. In this research work, the flexibility of the strain biosynthetic machinery was investigated to enhance the K4 capsular polysaccharide production by supplementing the growth medium with the monosaccharides (glucuronic acid, galactosamine and fructose) that constitute the chain. Shake flask experiments were performed by adding the sugars singularly or together, by testing monosaccharide different concentrations and times of addition and by observing the bacterial sugar consumption. A K4 capsular polysaccharide production enhancement, compared to the control, was observed in all cases of supplementation and, in particular, significant 68 and 57 % increases were observed when adding 0.385 mM glucuronic acid plus galactosamine or 0.385 mM fructose, respectively. Increased expression levels of the gene kfoC, coding for a K4 polymerase, evaluated in different growth conditions, confirmed the results at the molecular level. Furthermore, batch fermentations, performed in lab-scale reactors (2 L), allowed to double the K4 capsular polysaccharide production values obtained in shake flask conditions, by means of a strict control of the growth parameters.     

High yield production of extracellular recombinant levansucrase by Bacillus megaterium

In this study, a high yield production bioprocess with recombinant Bacillus megaterium for the production of the extracellular enzyme levansucrase (SacB) was developed. For basic optimization of culture parameters and nutrients, a recombinant B. megaterium reporter strain that produced green fluorescent protein under control of a vector-based xylose-inducible promoter was used. It enabled efficient microtiter plate-based screening via fluorescence analysis. A pH value of pH?6, 20 % of dissolved oxygen, 37 °C, and elevated levels of biotin (100 μg?L^?1) were found optimal with regard to high protein yield and reduced overflow metabolism. Among the different compounds tested, fructose and glycerol were identified as the preferred source of carbon. Subsequently, the settings were transferred to a B. megaterium strain recombinantly producing levansucrase SacB based on the plasmid-located xylose-inducible expression system. In shake flask culture under the optimized conditions, the novel strain already secreted the target enzyme in high amounts (14 U?mL^?1 on fructose and 17.2 U?mL^?1 on glycerol). This was further increased in high cell density fed-batch processes up to 55 U?mL^?1, reflecting a levansucrase concentration of 0.52 g?L^?1. This is 100-fold more than previous efforts for this enzyme in B. megaterium and more than 10-fold higher than reported values of other extracellular protein produced in this microorganism so far. The recombinant strain could also handle raw glycerol from biodiesel industry which provided the same amount and quality of the recombinant protein and suggests future implementation into existing biorefinery concepts.     

IS2-mediated overexpression of kfoC in E. coli K4 increases chondroitin-like capsular polysaccharide production

Transposons are developing molecular tools commonly used for several applications: one of these is the delivery of genes into microorganisms. These mobile genetic elements are characterised by two repeated insertion sequences that flank a sequence encoding one or more orfs for a specific transposase that moves these sequences to other DNA sites. In the present paper, the IS2 transposon of Escherichia coli K4 was modified in vitro by replacing the sequence coding for the transposase with that of the kfoC gene that codes for chondroitin polymerase. KfoC is responsible for the polymerisation of the bacterial capsular polysaccharide whose structure is analogous to that of chondroitin sulphate, a glycosaminoglycan with established and emerging biomedical applications. The recombinant construct was stably integrated into the genome of E. coli K4 by exploiting the transposase from endogenous copies of IS2 in the E. coli chromosome. A significant improvement of the polysaccharide production was observed, resulting in 80 % higher titres in 2.5-L fed-batch cultivations and up to 3.5 g/L in 22-L fed-batch cultures.     

Engineering of the glycerol decomposition pathway and cofactor regulation in an industrial yeast improves ethanol production

Glycerol is a major by-product of industrial ethanol production and its formation consumes up to 4 % of the sugar substrate. This study modified the glycerol decomposition pathway of an industrial strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to optimize the consumption of substrate and yield of ethanol. This study is the first to couple glycerol degradation with ethanol formation, to the best of our knowledge. The recombinant strain overexpressing GCY1 and DAK1, encoding glycerol dehydrogenase and dihydroxyacetone kinase, respectively, in glycerol degradation pathway, exhibited a moderate increase in ethanol yield (2.9 %) and decrease in glycerol yield (24.9 %) compared to the wild type with the initial glucose concentration of 15 % under anaerobic conditions. However, when the mhpF gene, encoding acetylating NAD⁺-dependent acetaldehyde dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli, was co-expressed in the aforementioned recombinant strain, a further increase in ethanol yield by 5.5 % and decrease in glycerol yield by 48 % were observed for the resultant recombinant strain GDMS1 when acetic acid was added into the medium prior to inoculation compared to the wild type. The process outlined in this study which enhances glycerol consumption and cofactor regulation in an industrial yeast is a promising metabolic engineering strategy to increase ethanol production by reducing the formation of glycerol.     

Heterologous expression and biochemical characterization of glucose isomerase from Thermobifida fusca

Glucose isomerase (GIase) catalyzes the isomerization of d-glucose to d-fructose. The GIase from Thermobifida fusca WSH03-11 was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), and the purified enzyme took the form of a tetramer in solution and displayed a pI value of 5.05. The temperature optimum of GIase was 80 °C and its half life was about 2 h at 80 °C or 15 h at 70 °C. The pH optimum of GIase was 10 and the enzyme retained 95 % activity over the pH range of 5–10 after incubating at 4 °C for 24 h. Kinetic studies showed that the K _m and K _cat values of the enzyme are 197 mM and 1,688 min^?1, respectively. The maximum conversion yield of glucose (45 %, w/v) to fructose of the enzyme was 53 % at pH 7.5 and 70 °C. The present study provides the basis for the industrial application of recombinant T. fusca GIase in the production of high fructose syrup.     

Effects of pulse feeding of beet molasses on recombinant benzaldehyde lyase production by Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)

The effect of fed-batch operation (FBO) strategy was investigated using pretreated-beet molasses, containing galactose that induces the lac promoter, on benzaldehyde lyase (BAL) production by recombinant Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)pLySs. After batch cultivation with 30 g l^?1 pretreated-beet molasses consisting of 7.5 g l^?1 glucose and 7.5 g l^?1 fructose, three FBO strategies were applied at dissolved oxygen (=40%) cascade to air-flow rate. In FBO1 when air-flow rate decreased considerably, feed was given to the system in pulses in such a way that pretreated-beet molasses concentration increased by 10 kg m^?3 (containing 2.5 g l^?1 glucose+2.5 g l^?1 fructose); however, decrease in air-flow rate demonstrated only the absence of glucose but not fructose. Thus, in FBO2 when fructose and glucose were completely utilized, pretreated-beet molasses was pulse-fed and its concentration increased by 10 g l^?1. In FBO3 with the decreased amount of pretreated-beet molasses (6 g l^?1), shift response time from glucose to fructose consumption was avoided, and glucose and fructose consumptions were well correlated with air-flow rate, and the highest C _X (8.04 g l^?1) and BAL (2,315 U ml^?1) production were obtained (t?=?24 h) with the highest substrate yield on cell and product formation.     

High cell density cultivation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> K4 in a microfiltration bioreactor: a step towards improvement of chondroitin precursor production

Background  

The bacteria Escherichia coli K4 produces a capsular polysaccharide (K4 CPS) whose backbone is similar to the non sulphated chondroitin chain. The chondroitin sulphate is one of the major components of the extra-cellular matrix of the vertebrate connective tissues and a high value molecule, widely employed as active principle in the treatment of osteoarthritis. It is usually obtained by extraction from animal tissues, but the risk of virus contaminations, as well as the scarceness of raw material, makes this productive process unsafe and unable to satisfy the growing market demand. In previous studies a new biotechnological process to produce chondroitin from Escherichia coli K4 capsular polysaccharide was investigated and a 1.4 g·L^-1 K4 CPS concentration was reached using fed-batch fermentation techniques. In this work, on the trail of these results, we exploited new fermentation strategies to further improve the capsular polysaccharide production.     

Construction of engineered Arthrobacter simplex with improved performance for cortisone acetate biotransformation

Arthrobacter simplex 156 is a microorganism that is used for steroid drug biotransformation of cortisone acetate (CA) to prednisone acetate (PA). The enzyme 3-ketosteroid-△¹-dehydrogenase encoded by the ksdD gene plays an important role in the bioconversion process. To further improve the biotransformation efficiencies of the industrial strain, a genetic manipulation system for A. simplex 156 was developed. Additional copies of the ksdD gene under the control of the cat promoter (from pXMJ19) were transferred into the strain A. simplex 156 and integrated into the 16S rDNA sites, yielding a series of recombinant strains. One of these recombinant strains, designated A. simplex M158, exhibited superior properties for CA biotransformation. At the substrate concentration of 83.6 g/l, the highest PA production of the recombinant strain reached 66.7 g/l, which is approximately 32.9 % higher than that of wild-type strains, and the incubation time for CA to PA bioconversion was reduced by 20 h. Southern blotting analysis of the recombinant strain indicated two copies of deregulated ksdD genes were integrated into the 16S rDNA sites, which means two of five 16S rRNA operons were insertionally disrupted in the recombinant strain. However, the disruption of the two 16S rRNA operons did not affect the growth rate of the recombinant strain, which survived and thrived under desired conditions. In addition, the new strain was genetically stable for more than 100 generations without the use of antibiotics for selection. These superior characteristics make the new strain more suitable than the wild-type strain for PA production.     

Enhanced production of carboxymethylcellulase of a marine microorganism, Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis A-53 in a pilot-scaled bioreactor by a recombinant Escherichia coli JM109/A-53 from rice bran

A gene encoding the carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) of a marine bacterium, Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis A-53, was cloned in Escherichia coli JMB109 and the recombinant strain was named as E. coli JMB109/A-53. The optimal conditions of rice bran, ammonium chloride, and initial pH of the medium for cell growth, extracted by Design Expert Software based on response surface methodology, were 100.0 g/l, 7.5 g/l, and 7.0, respectively, whereas those for production of CMCase were 100.0 g/l, 7.5 g/l, and 8.0. The optimal temperatures for cell growth and the production of CMCase by E. coli JM109/A-53 were found to be and 40 and 35 °C, respectively. The optimal agitation speed and aeration rate of a 7 l bioreactor for cell growth were 400 rpm and 1.5 vvm, whereas those for production of CMCase were 400 rpm and 0.5 vvm. The optimal inner pressure for cell growth was 0.06 MPa, which was the same as that for production of CMCase. The production of CMCase by E. coli JM109/A-53 under optimized conditions was 880.2 U/ml, which was 2.9 times higher than that before optimization. In this study, rice bran and ammonium chloride were developed as carbon and nitrogen source for production of CMCase by a recombinant E. coli JM109/A-53 and the productivity of E. coli JM109/A-53 was 5.9 times higher than that of B. subtilis subp. subtilis A-53.     

A novel fed-batch based strategy for enhancing cell-density and recombinant cyprosin B production in bioreactors

Nowadays, the dairy industry is continuously looking for new and more efficient clotting enzymes to create innovative products. Cyprosin B is a plant aspartic protease characterized by clotting activity that was previously cloned in Saccharomyces cerevisiae BJ1991 strain. The production of recombinant cyprosin B by a batch and fed-batch culture was compared using glucose and galactose as carbon sources. The strategy for fed-batch cultivation involved two steps: in the first batch phase, the culture medium presented glucose 1 % (w/v) and galactose 0.5 % (w/v), while in the feed step the culture medium was constituted by 5 % (w/v) galactose with the aim to minimize the GAL7 promoter repression. Based on fed-batch, in comparison to batch growth, an increase in biomass (6.6-fold), protein concentration (59 %) and cyprosin B activity (91 %) was achieved. The recombinant cyprosin B was purified by a single hydrophobic chromatography, presenting a specific activity of 6 × 10⁴ U·mg^?1, corresponding to a purification degree of 12.5-fold and a recovery yield of 16.4 %. The SDS-PAGE analysis showed that recovery procedure is suitable for achieving the purified recombinant cyprosin B. The results show that the recombinant cyprosin B production can be improved based on two distinct steps during the fed-batch, presenting that this strategy, associated with a simplified purification procedure, could be applied to large-scale production, constituting a new and efficient alternative for animal and fungal enzymes widely used in cheese making.     

Enhancement of 2,3-butanediol production from Jerusalem artichoke tuber extract by a recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus</Emphasis> sp. strain BRC1 with increased inulinase activity

A Bacillus sp. strain named BRC1 is capable of producing 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) using hydrolysates of the Jerusalem artichoke tuber (JAT), a rich source of the fructose polymer inulin. To enhance 2,3-BD production, we undertook an extensive analysis of the Bacillus sp. BRC1 genome, identifying a putative gene (sacC) encoding a fructan hydrolysis enzyme and characterizing the activity of the resulting recombinant protein expressed in and purified from Escherichia coli. Introduction of the sacC gene into Bacillus sp. BRC1 using an expression vector increased enzymatic activity more than twofold. Consistent with this increased enzyme expression, 2,3-BD production from JAT was also increased from 3.98 to 8.10 g L^?1. Fed-batch fermentation of the recombinant strain produced a maximal level of 2,3-BD production of 28.6 g L^?1, showing a high theoretical yield of 92.3%.     

启动子工程改造大肠杆菌K4生产果糖软骨素

为了进一步提高大肠杆菌K4发酵生产果糖软骨素(K4CPS)的产量,将合成基因簇region 3启动子(PR3)3'端非翻译区(UTR)进行缺失突变,研究其对突变菌株K4CPS合成的影响。研究表明:在ops序列(RfaH蛋白结合位点)存在时,PR3启动子强度和K4CPS产量与UTR的长度变化无关;但ops序列缺失时,UTR的延长可导致PR3启动子的强度和K4CPS产量均低于对照菌株;反之,UTR的缩短能显著提高PR3启动子的强度,进而使K4CPS产量比原菌增加了46%,达到751 mg/L。     

Increase in the production of β-carotene in recombinant Escherichia coli cultured in a chemically defined medium supplemented with amino acids

Escherichia coli DH5α strain was selected as the recombinant host, and a chemically defined medium supplemented with amino acids was used instead of a complex medium for the efficient production of β-carotene. In a fed-batch culture using glycerol with a chemically defined medium supplemented with amino acids, the concentration, specific content, and productivity of β-carotene were 2,470 mg/l, 72 mg/g cells, and 77 mg/l h after 32 h, respectively. These values were, respectively, 43, 33, and 26 % higher than those obtained using the complex medium. This is the highest β-carotene production that has been reported among the recombinant cells to date.     

Functional expression of a novel alkaline-adapted lipase of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens from stinky tofu brine and development of immobilized enzyme for biodiesel production

Using enrichment procedures, a lipolytic strain was isolated from a stinky tofu brine and was identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (named B. amyloliquefaciens Nsic-8) by morphological, physiological, biochemical tests and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Meanwhile, the key enzyme gene (named lip _BA) involved in ester metabolism was obtained from Nsic-8 with the assistance of homology analysis. The novel gene has an open reading frame of 645 bp, and encodes a 214-amino-acid lipase (Lip_BA). The deduced amino acid sequence shows the highest identity with the lipase from B. amyloliquefaciens IT-45 (NCBI database) and belongs to the family of triacylglycerol lipase (EC 3.1.1.3). The lipase gene was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) using plasmid pET-28a. The enzyme activity and specific activity were 250 ± 16 U/ml and 1750 ± 153 U/mg, respectively. The optimum pH and temperature of the recombinant enzyme were 9.0 and 40 °C respectively. Lip_BA showed much higher stability under alkaline conditions and was stable at pH 7.0–11.0. The Km and Vmax values of purified Lip_BA using 4-nitrophenyl palmitate as the substrate were 1.04 ± 0.06 mM and 119.05 ± 7.16 μmol/(ml min), respectively. After purification, recombinant lipase was immobilized with the optimal conditions (immobilization time 3 h at 30 °C, with 92 % enzyme recovery) and the immobilized enzyme was applied in biodiesel production. This is the first report of the lipase activity and lipase gene obtained from B. amyloliquefaciens (including wild strain and recombinant strain) and the recombinant Lip_BA with the detailed enzymatic properties. Also the preliminary study of the transesterification shows the potential value in biodiesel production applications.     

Exiguobacterium himgiriensis sp. nov. a novel member of the genus Exiguobacterium, isolated from the Indian Himalayas

The taxonomic position of an orange coloured bacterium, strain K22–26^T isolated from a soil sample was studied using a polyphasic approach. The organism had phenotypic and chemotaxonomic properties consistent with its allocation into the genus Exiguobacterium. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain K22–26^T belongs to the genus Exiguobacterium and was related to Exiguobacterium aurantiacum DSM 6208^T (99.0 %) Exiguobacterium mexicanum DSM 16483^T (98.6 %), Exiguobacterium aquaticum (98.6 %), Exiguobacterium aestuarii DSM 16306^T (98.1 %), Exiguobacterium profundum DSM 17289^T (98.1 %) and Exiguobacterium marinum DSM 16483^T (97.9 %), whereas sequence similarity values with respect to other Exiguobacterium species with validly published names were between 92.5–94.0 %. The major polar lipids detected were phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The major menaquinone was determined to be MK-7 (83 %) whereas MK-8 (11 %) and MK-6 (6 %) occur in smaller amounts. The peptidoglycan of the strain was found to contain l-lysine as the diagnostic diamino acid. The major fatty acids detected were iso C_13:0 (11.2 %), anteiso C_13:0 (15.4 %), iso C_15:0 (13.2 %) and iso C_17:0 (16.1 %). However, analysis of the DNA–DNA relatedness confirmed that strain K22–26^T belongs to a novel species. The G + C content of the strain K22–26^T was determined to be 50.1 mol %. The novel strain was distinguished from closely related type species of the genus Exiguobacterium using DNA–DNA relatedness and phenotypic data. Based on these differences, the strain K22–26^T should be classified as a novel species of the genus Exiguobacterium, for which the name Exiguobacterium himgiriensis sp. nov. strain K22–26^T (= MTCC 7628^T = JCM 14260^T) is proposed.     

Xylitol production by genetically modified industrial strain of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> using glycerol as co-substrate

Xylitol is commercially used in chewing gum and dental care products as a low calorie sweetener having medicinal properties. Industrial yeast strain of S. cerevisiae was genetically modified to overexpress an endogenous aldose reductase gene GRE3 and a xylose transporter gene SUT1 for the production of xylitol. The recombinant strain (XP-RTK) carried the expression cassettes of both the genes and the G418 resistance marker cassette KanMX integrated into the genome of S. cerevisiae. Short segments from the 5′ and 3′ delta regions of the Ty1 retrotransposons were used as homology regions for integration of the cassettes. Xylitol production by the industrial recombinant strain was evaluated using hemicellulosic hydrolysate of the corn cob with glucose as the cosubstrate. The recombinant strain XP-RTK showed significantly higher xylitol productivity (212 mg L^?1 h^?1) over the control strain XP (81 mg L^?1 h^?1). Glucose was successfully replaced by glycerol as a co-substrate for xylitol production by S. cerevisiae. Strain XP-RTK showed the highest xylitol productivity of 318.6 mg L^?1 h^?1 and titre of 47 g L^?1 of xylitol at 12 g L^?1 initial DCW using glycerol as cosubstrate. The amount of glycerol consumed per amount of xylitol produced (0.47 mol mol^?1) was significantly lower than glucose (23.7 mol mol^?1). Fermentation strategies such as cell recycle and use of the industrial nitrogen sources were demonstrated using hemicellulosic hydrolysate for xylitol production.     

Metabolic engineering of Candida utilis for isopropanol production

A genetically-engineered strain of the yeast Candida utilis harboring genes encoding (1) an acetoacetyl-CoA transferase from Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824, (2) an acetoacetate decarboxylase, and (3) a primary–secondary alcohol dehydrogenase derived from Clostridium beijerinckii NRRL B593 produced up to 0.21 g/L of isopropanol. Because the engineered strain accumulated acetate, isopropanol titer was improved to 1.2 g/L under neutralized fermentation conditions. Optimization of isopropanol production was attempted by the overexpression and disruption of several endogenous genes. Simultaneous overexpression of two genes encoding acetyl-CoA synthetase and acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase increased isopropanol titer to 9.5 g/L. Moreover, in fed-batch cultivation, the resultant recombinant strain produced 27.2 g/L of isopropanol from glucose with a yield of 41.5 % (mol/mol). This is the first demonstration of the production of isopropanol by genetically engineered yeast.