Osmotic stress,glucose transport capacity and consequences for glutamate overproduction in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Glucose uptake by Corynebacterium glutamicum is predominantly assured by a mannose phosphotransferase system (PTS) with a high affinity for glucose (Km=0.35 mM). Mutants selected for their resistance to 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) and lacking detectable PEP-dependent glucose-transporting activity, retained the capacity to grow on media in which glucose was the only carbon and energy source, albeit at significantly diminished rates, due to the presence of a low affinity (Ks=11 mM) non-PTS uptake system. During growth in media of different osmolarity, specific rates of glucose consumption and of growth of wild type cells were diminished. Cell samples from these cultures were shown to possess similar PTS activities when measured under standard conditions. However, when cells were resuspended in buffer solutions of different osmolarity measurable PTS activity was shown to be dependent upon osmolarity. This inhibition effect was sufficient to account for the decreased rates of both sugar uptake and growth observed in fermentation media of high osmolarity. The secondary glucose transporter was, however, not influenced by medium osmolarity. During industrial fermentation conditions with accumulation of glutamic acid and the corresponding increase in medium osmolarity, similar inhibition of the sugar transport capacity was observed. This phenomenon provokes a major process constraint since the decrease in specific rates leads to an increasing proportion of sugar catabolised for maintenance requirements with an associated decrease in product yields.     

Glucosamine as carbon source for amino acid-producing Corynebacterium glutamicum

Corynebacterium glutamicum grows with a variety of carbohydrates and carbohydrate derivatives as sole carbon sources; however, growth with glucosamine has not yet been reported. We isolated a spontaneous mutant (M4) which is able to grow as fast with glucosamine as with glucose as sole carbon source. Glucosamine also served as a combined source of carbon, energy and nitrogen for the mutant strain. Characterisation of the M4 mutant revealed a significantly increased expression of the nagB gene encoding the glucosamine-6P deaminase NagB involved in degradation of glucosamine, as a consequence of a single mutation in the promoter region of the nagAB-scrB operon. Ectopic nagB overexpression verified that the activity of the NagB enzyme is in fact the growth limiting factor under these conditions. In addition, glucosamine uptake was studied, which proved to be unchanged in the wild-type and M4 mutant strains. Using specific deletion strains, we identified the PTS^Glc transport system to be responsible for glucosamine uptake in C. glutamicum. The affinity of this uptake system for glucosamine was about 40-fold lower than that for its major substrate glucose. Because of this difference in affinity, glucosamine is efficiently taken up only if external glucose is absent or present at low concentrations. C. glutamicum was also examined for its suitability to use glucosamine as substrate for biotechnological purposes. Upon overexpression of the nagB gene in suitable C. glutamicum producer strains, efficient production of both the amino acid l-lysine and the diamine putrescine from glucosamine was demonstrated.     

Altered metabolic flux due to deletion of odhA causes L-glutamate overproduction in Corynebacterium glutamicum

L-glutamate overproduction in Corynebacterium glutamicum, a biotin auxotroph, is induced by biotin limitation or by treatment with certain fatty acid ester surfactants or with penicillin. We have analyzed the relationship between the inductions, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (ODHC) activity, and L-glutamate production. Here we show that a strain deleted for odhA and completely lacking ODHC activity produces L-glutamate as efficiently as the induced wild type (27.8 mmol/g [dry weight] of cells for the ohdA deletion strain compared with only 1.0 mmol/g [dry weight] of cells for the uninduced wild type). This level of production is achieved without any induction or alteration in the fatty acid composition of the cells, showing that L-glutamate overproduction can be caused by the change in metabolic flux alone. Interestingly, the L-glutamate productivity of the odhA-deleted strain is increased about 10% by each of the L-glutamate-producing inductions, showing that the change in metabolic flux resulting from the odhA deletion and the inductions have additive effects on L-glutamate overproduction. Tween 40 was indicated to induce drastic metabolic change leading to L-glutamate overproduction in the odhA-deleted strain. Furthermore, optimizing the metabolic flux from 2-oxoglutarate to L-glutamate by tuning glutamate dehydrogenase activity increased the l-glutamate production of the odhA-deleted strain.     

13C NMR studies of the fluxes in the central metabolism of Corynebacterium glutamicum during growth and overproduction of amino acids in batch cultures

The carbon flux distribution in the central metabolism of Corynebacterium glutamicum was studied in batch cultures using [1-¹³C]- and [6-¹³C]glucose as substrate during exponential growth as well as during overproduction of l-lysine and l-glutamate. Using the ¹³C NMR data in conjunction with stoichiometric metabolite balances, molar fluxes were quantified and normalised to the glucose uptake rate, which was set to 100. The normalised molar flux via the hexose monophosphate pathway was 40 during exponential growth, whereas it was only 17 during l-glutamate production. During l-lysine production, the normalised hexose monophosphate pathway flux was elevated to 47. Thus, the carbon flux via this pathway correlated with the NADPH demand for bacterial growth and l-lysine overproduction. The normalised molar flux in the tricarboxylic acid cycle at the level of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase was 100 during exponential growth and 103 during l-lysine secretion. During l-glutamate formation, the normalised flux through the tricarboxylic acid cycle was reduced to 60. In contrast to earlier NMR studies with C. glutamicum, no significant activity of the glyoxylate pathway could be detected. All experiments indicated a strong in vivo flux from oxaloacetate back to phosphoenolpyruvate and/or pyruvate, which might be due to phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity in C. glutamicum.     

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.     

Enhancing the carbon flux and NADPH supply to increase L-isoleucine production in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Our previous work has shown that L-isoleucine production in Corynebacterium glutamicum IWJ001 could be increased by overexpressing ilvA1 encoding a feedback-resistant threonine dehydratase, ilvBN1 encoding a feedback-resistant acetohydroxy acid synthase, lrp encoding the global regulator Lrp, brnFE encoding the two-component export system BrnFE, or ppnk1 encoding NAD kinase. The main purpose of this study is to further increase the L-isoleucine production in C. glutamicum IWJ001 by overexpressing the above genes in various combinations. Several C. glutamicum strains IWJ001/pDXW-8-ppnk1-lrp-brnFE, IWJ001/pDXW-8-ilvBN1-ilvA1-lrp-brnFE, IWJ001/pDXW-8-ilvBN1-ilvA1-ppnk1, and IWJ001/pDXW-8-ppnk1-ilvBN1-ilvA1-lrp-brnFE were constructed, and L-isoleucine production and activities of several key enzymes in these strains were analyzed. Compared with the control strain IWJ001/pDXW-8, L-isoleucine production increased in all of the four strains. IWJ001/pDXW-8-ilvBN1-ilvA1-ppnk1 showed the highest L-isoleucine production and produced 32.3 g/L L-isoleucine in 72 h fed batch fermentation. The results indicate that L-isoleucine production in C. glutamicum could be increased by enhancing the carbon flux and NADPH supply in the biosynthetic pathway.     

Characterization of the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene from Corynebacterium glutamicum and significance of the enzyme for growth and amino acid production

Corynebacterium glutamicum possesses phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxykinase, oxaloacetate decarboxylase and malic enzyme, all three in principle being able to catalyze the first step in gluconeogenesis. To investigate the role of PEP carboxykinase for growth and amino acid production, the respective pck gene was isolated, characterized and used for construction and analysis of mutants and overexpressing strains. Sequence analysis of the pck gene predicts a polypeptide of 610 amino acids showing up to 64% identity with ITP-/GTP-dependent PEP carboxykinases from other organisms. C. glutamicum cells harbouring pck on plasmid showed about tenfold higher specific PEP carboxykinase activities than the wildtype. Inactivation of the chromosomal pck gene led to the absence of PEP carboxykinase activity and the inability to grow on acetate or lactate indicating that the enzyme is essential for growth on these carbon sources and thus, for gluconeogenesis. The growth on glucose was not affected. Examination of glutamate production by the recombinant C. glutamicum strains revealed that the PEP carboxykinase-deficient mutant showed about fourfold higher, the pck-overexpressing strain two- to threefold lower glutamate production than the parental strain. Inactivation and overexpression of pck in a lysine-producer of C. glutamicum led to an only 20% higher and lower lysine accumulation, respectively. The results show that PEP carboxykinase activity in C. glutamicum is counteractive to the production of glutamate and lysine and indicate that the enzyme is an important target in the development of strains producing amino acids derived from citric acid cycle intermediates.     

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for shikimate overproduction by growth-arrested cell reaction

Corynebacterium glutamicum with the ability to simultaneously utilize glucose/pentose mixed sugars was metabolically engineered to overproduce shikimate, a valuable hydroaromatic compound used as a starting material for the synthesis of the anti-influenza drug oseltamivir. To achieve this, the shikimate kinase and other potential metabolic activities for the consumption of shikimate and its precursor dehydroshikimate were inactivated. Carbon flux toward shikimate synthesis was enhanced by overexpression of genes for the shikimate pathway and the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway. Subsequently, to improve the availability of the key aromatics precursor phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) toward shikimate synthesis, the PEP: sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) was inactivated and an endogenous myo-inositol transporter IolT1 and glucokinases were overexpressed. Unexpectedly, the resultant non-PTS strain accumulated 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and glycerol as major byproducts. This observation and metabolome analysis identified glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH)-catalyzed reaction as a limiting step in glycolysis. Consistently, overexpression of GAPDH significantly stimulated both glucose consumption and shikimate production. Blockage of the DHA synthesis further improved shikimate yield. We applied an aerobic, growth-arrested and high-density cell reaction to the shikimate production by the resulting strain and notably achieved the highest shikimate titer (141 g/l) and a yield (51% (mol/mol)) from glucose reported to date after 48 h in minimal medium lacking nutrients required for cell growth. Moreover, comparable shikimate productivity could be attained through simultaneous utilization of glucose, xylose, and arabinose, enabling efficient shikimate production from lignocellulosic feedstocks. These findings demonstrate that C. glutamicum has significant potential for the production of shikimate and derived aromatic compounds.     

Rapid assessment of oxygen transfer impact for Corynebacterium glutamicum

Oxygen supply is crucial in industrial application of microbial systems, such as Corynebacterium glutamicum, but oxygen transfer is often neglected in early strain characterizations, typically done under aerobic conditions. In this work, a new procedure for oxygen transfer screening is presented, assessing the impact of maximum oxygen transfer conditions (OTR_max) within microtiter plate-based cultivation for enhanced throughput. Oxygen-dependent growth and productivity were characterized for C. glutamicum ATCC13032 and C. glutamicum DM1933 (lysine producer). Biomass and lysine product yield are affected at OTR_max below 14 mmol L^?1 h^?1 in a standardized batch process, but not by further increase of OTR_max above this threshold value indicating a reasonable tradeoff between power input and oxygen transfer capacity OTR_max. The described oxygen transfer screening allows comparative determination of metabolic robustness against oxygen transfer limitation and serves identification of potential problems or opportunities later created during scale-up.     

The effect of AmtR on growth and amino acids production in Corynebacterium glutamicum

AmtR, the master regulator of nitrogen control in Corynebacterium glutamicum, plays important roles in nitrogen metabolism. To investigate the influence of AmtR on amino acids production in C. glutamicum ATCC 13032, the amtR deletion strain C. glutamicum Q1 was constructed and cultured in modified CGXII minimal medium for 60 h. The ammonium consumption rates as well as amino acids production of both strains cultured in modified CGXII minimal medium were determined. The amtR deletion in C. glutamicum caused an obvious growth defect in the exponential growth phase, but both strains had the same biomass in the stationary phases. Maybe the less alpha-oxoglutarate was used for the tricarboxylic acid cycle to influence the growth of strains. During 12 h, the rate of ammonium consumption and the concentration of Glu, Pro, Arg and Ser were higher but Asp, Gly, Ile, Leu, Lys were lower in the mutation strain. During 48 h, the Q1 had higher levels of Asp, Lys, Pro, Ala and Val,and lower levels of Glu, Arg, Leu and Ile, compared to the wild. The more Glu was synthesized by the activated GS/GOGAT pathway in Q1, and then the accumulation of relative amino acids (Pro, Arg and Ser) were up-regulated within 12 h growth. After 48 h growth, the amtR deletion obviously influenced accumulation of Ala, Asp and Pro. The amtR deletion could influence the growth and amino acids production, which could be useful to the production of amino acids.     

Gene expression of Corynebacterium glutamicum in response to the conditions inducing glutamate overproduction

AIM: The ultimate aim is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms for glutamate overproduction by Corynebacterium glutamicum. METHODS AND RESULTS: Gene expression in response to the conditions inducing glutamate overproduction was investigated by using a DNA microarray technique. Most genes involved in the EMP pathway, the PPP, and the TCA cycle were downregulated, while five genes that were highly upregulated (NCgl0917, NCgl2944, NCgl2945, NCgl2946, and NCgl2975) were identified under all the three conditions for overproduction that are studied here. Gene products of NCgl2944, NCgl2945, and NCgl2946 were highly homologous to each other, did not resemble any other protein, and have remained uncharacterized thus far. The product of NCgl0917 showed a similarity to a few hypothetical and uncharacterized proteins. NCgl2975 was homologous to metal-binding proteins. CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in the activity of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex, a key enzyme that is downregulated during glutamate overproduction, can be mainly attributed to the downregulation of odhA and sucB. Five highly upregulated genes were also identified. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Although fermentative production of glutamate has been carried out for more than 45 years, information on the molecular mechanisms of glutamate overproduction is still limited. This study further elucidates these mechanisms.     

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.     

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for trehalose overproduction: role of the TreYZ trehalose biosynthetic pathway

Trehalose has many potential applications in biotechnology and the food industry due to its protective effect against environmental stress. Our work explores microbiological production methods based on the capacity of Corynebacterium glutamicum to excrete trehalose. We address here raising trehalose productivity through homologous overexpression of maltooligosyltrehalose synthase and the maltooligosyltrehalose trehalohydrolase genes. In addition, heterologous expression of the UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase gene from Escherichia coli improved the supply of glycogen. Gene expression effects were tested on enzymatic activities and intracellular glycogen content, as well as on accumulated and excreted trehalose. Overexpression of the treY gene and the treY/treZ synthetic operon significantly increased maltooligosyltrehalose synthase activity, the rate-limiting step, and improved the specific productivity and the final titer of trehalose. Furthermore, a strong decrease was noted in glycogen accumulation. Expression of galU/treY and galU/treYZ synthetic operons showed a partial recovery in the intracellular glycogen levels and a significant improvement in both intra- and extracellular trehalose content.     

Serial flux mapping of Corynebacterium glutamicum during fed-batch L-lysine production using the sensor reactor approach

Using our recently developed sensor reactor approach, lysine-producing, nongrowing Corynebacterium glutamicum MH20-22B cells were subjected to serial (13)C-labeling experiments for flux analysis during the leucine-limited fed-batch production phase in a 300-L bioreactor. Based on two-dimensional (2D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements of (13)C-labeling patterns of cytoplasmic free metabolites, metabolic flux distributions in the central metabolism were successfully determined. Focusing on the highly concentrated metabolite L-glutamate, the working hypothesis was validated that the equilibration of labeling patterns in intracellular pools was much faster (up to 9.45 min) than the labeling period (3 h) used in the experiments. Analysis of anaplerotic reactions revealed that highly selective lysine production was accompanied by a significant reduction of decarboxylating reactions from 10 mol% to only 2 mol%, whereas PEP/pyruvate-carboxylating fluxes remained constant at about 40 mol% of consumed glucose. These results support the conclusion that an optimized C. glutamicum L-lysine producer should possess increased PEP carboxylase and/or pyruvate carboxylase activity combined with downregulated, decarboxylating fluxes consuming oxaloacetate/malate. The findings also illustrate the usefulness of the sensor reactor approach in the study of industrial fermentations.     

Arabinan-deficient mutants of Corynebacterium glutamicum and the consequent flux in decaprenylmonophosphoryl-D-arabinose metabolism

The arabinogalactan (AG) of Corynebacterianeae is a critical macromolecule that tethers mycolic acids to peptidoglycan, thus forming a highly impermeable cell wall matrix termed the mycolyl-arabinogalactan peptidoglycan complex (mAGP). The front line anti-tuberculosis drug, ethambutol (Emb), targets the Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Corynebacterium glutamicum arabinofuranosyltransferase Mt-EmbA, Mt-EmbB and Cg-Emb enzymes, respectively, which are responsible for the biosynthesis of the arabinan domain of AG. The substrate utilized by these important glycosyltransferases, decaprenylmonophosphoryl-D-arabinose (DPA), is synthesized via a decaprenylphosphoryl-5-phosphoribose (DPPR) synthase (UbiA), which catalyzes the transfer of 5-phospho-ribofuranose-pyrophosphate (pRpp) to decaprenol phosphate to form DPPR. Glycosyl compositional analysis of cell walls extracted from a C. glutamicum::ubiA mutant revealed a galactan core consisting of alternating beta(1-->5)-Galf and beta(1-->6)-Galf residues, completely devoid of arabinan and a concomitant loss of cell-wall-bound mycolic acids. In addition, in vitro assays demonstrated a complete loss of arabinofuranosyltransferase activity and DPA biosynthesis in the C. glutamicum::ubiA mutant when supplemented with p[14C]Rpp, the precursor of DPA. Interestingly, in vitro arabinofuranosyltransferase activity was restored in the C. glutamicum::ubiA mutant when supplemented with exogenous DP[14C]A substrate, and C. glutamicum strains deficient in ubiA, emb, and aftA all exhibited different levels of DPA biosynthesis.