Biochemical parameters of Saccharopolyspora Erythraea during feeding ammonium sulphate in erythromycin biosynthesis phase

The physiology of feeding ammonium sulphate in erythromycin biosynthesis phase of Saccharopolyspora erythraea on the regulation of erythromycin A (Er-A) biosynthesis was investigated in 50 L fermenter. At an optimal feeding ammonium sulphate rate of 0.03 g/L per h, the maximal Er-A production was 8281 U/mL at 174 h of growth, which was increased by 26.3% in comparison with the control (6557 U/mL at 173 h). Changes in cell metabolic response of actinomycete were observed, i.e. there was a drastic increase in the level of carbon dioxide evolution rate and oxygen consumption. Assays of the key enzyme activities and organic acids of S. erythraea and amino acids in culture broth revealed that cell metabolism was enhanced by ammonium assimilation, which might depend on the glutamate transamination pathway. The enhancement of cell metabolism induced an increase of the pool of TCA cycle and the metabolic flux of erythromycin biosynthesis. In general, ammonium assimilation in the erythromycin biosynthesis phase of S. erythraea exerted a significant impact on the carbon metabolism and formation of precursors of the process for dramatic regulation of secondary metabolites biosynthesis.     

Effects of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase gene knockouts on erythromycin production in carbohydrate-based and oil-based fermentations of Saccharopolyspora erythraea

In carbohydrate-based fermentations of Saccharopolyspora erythraea, a polar knockout of the methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM) gene, mutB, improved erythromycin production an average of 126% (within the range of 102–153% for a 0.95 confidence interval). In oil-based fermentations, where erythromycin production by the wild-type strain averages 184% higher (141–236%, 0.95 CI) than in carbohydrate-based fermentations, the same polar knockout in mutB surprisingly reduced erythromycin production by 66% (53–76%, 0.95 CI). A metabolic model is proposed where in carbohydrate-based fermentations MCM acts as a drain on the methylmalonyl-CoA metabolite pool, and in oil-based fermentations, MCM acts in the reverse direction to fill the methylmalonyl-CoA pool. Therefore, the model explains, in part, how the well-known oil-based process improvement for erythromycin production operates at the biochemical level; furthermore, it illustrates how the mutB erythromycin strain improvement mutation operates at the genetic level in carbohydrate-based fermentations.     

Reconstruction of the Saccharopolyspora erythraea genome-scale model and its use for enhancing erythromycin production

Genome-scale metabolic reconstructions are routinely used for the analysis and design of metabolic engineering strategies for production of primary metabolites. The use of such reconstructions for metabolic engineering of antibiotic production is not common due to the lack of simple design algorithms in the absence of a cellular growth objective function. Here, we present the metabolic network reconstruction for the erythromycin producer Saccharopolyspora erythraea NRRL23338. The model was manually curated for primary and secondary metabolism pathways and consists of 1,482 reactions (2,075 genes) and 1,646 metabolites. As part of the model validation, we explored the potential benefits of supplying amino acids and identified five amino acids “compatible” with erythromycin production, whereby if glucose is supplemented with this amino acid on a carbon mole basis, the in silico model predicts that high erythromycin yield is possible without lowering biomass yield. Increased erythromycin titre was confirmed for four of the five amino acids, namely valine, isoleucine, threonine and proline. In bioreactor experiments, supplementation with 2.5?% carbon mole of valine increased the growth rate by 20?% and simultaneously the erythromycin yield on biomass by 50?%. The model presented here can be used as a framework for the future integration of high-throughput biological data sets in S. erythraea and ultimately to realise strain designs capable of increasing erythromycin production closer to the theoretical yield.     

Increased erythromycin production by alginate as a medium ingredient or immobilization support in cultures of <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Saccharopolyspora erythraea</Emphasis>

Erythromycin production by Saccharopolyspora erythraea immobilized in 2% (w/v) calcium alginate or grown in medium containing 20 g sodium alginate/l inoculated with free cells was almost twice more than that of the control. S. erythraea did not consume alginate, agar, dextran, silicon antifoaming agent or cyclodextrin as a carbon source, although, all of these increased the production of erythromycin. Highest titer of erythromycin (2.3 times more than that of the control) was achieved in medium containing 1 g agar/l.     

Enhancement of the NAD(P)(H) Pool in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Asymmetric biosyntheses allow for an efficient production of chiral building blocks. The application of whole cells as biocatalysts for asymmetric syntheses is advantageous because they already contain the essential coenzymes NAD(H) or NADP(H), which additionally can be regenerated in the cells. Unfortunately, reduced catalytic activity compared to the oxidoreductase activity is observed in many cases during whole‐cell biotransformation. This may be caused by low intracellular coenzyme pool sizes and/or a decline in intracellular coenzyme concentrations. To enhance the intracellular coenzyme pool sizes, the effects of the precursor metabolites adenine and nicotinic acid on the intracellular accumulation of NAD(H) and NADP(H) were studied in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Based on the results of simple batch experiments with different precursor additions, fed‐batch processes for the production of yeast cells with enhanced NAD(H) or enhanced NADP(H) pool sizes were developed. Supplementation of the feed medium with 95 mM adenine and 9.5 mM nicotinic acid resulted in an increase of the intracellular NAD(H) concentration by a factor of 10 at the end of the fed‐batch process compared to the reference process. The final NAD(H) concentration remains unchanged if the feed medium was solely supplemented with 95 mM adenine, but intracellular NADP(H) was increased by a factor of 4. The effects of NADP(H) pool sizes on the asymmetric reduction of ethyl‐4‐chloro acetoacetate (CAAE) to the corresponding (S)‐4‐chloro‐3‐hydroxybutanoate (S‐CHBE) was evaluated with S. cerevisiae FasB His6 as an example. An intracellular threshold concentration above 0.07 mM NADP(H) was sufficient to increase the biocatalytic S‐CHBE productivity by 25 % compared to lower intracellular NADP(H) concentrations.     

Improved production of erythromycin A by expression of a heterologous gene encoding S-adenosylmethionine synthetase

An S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (SAM-s) gene from Streptomyces spectabilis was integrated along with vector DNA into the chromosome of a Saccharopolyspora erythraea E2. Elevated production of SAM was observed in the recombinant strain Saccharopolyspora erythraea E1. The results from the bioassay showed that the titer of erythromycin was increased from 920 IU ml⁻¹ by E₂ to approximately 2,000 IU ml⁻¹ by E₁. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that there was a 132% increase in erythromycin A compared with the original strain, while the erythromycin B, the main impurity component in erythromycin, was decreased by 30%. The sporulation process was inhibited, while the SAM-s gene was expressed. The addition of the exogenous SAM also inhibited sporulation and promoted an increase in erythromycin titers. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Rapid engineering of polyketide overproduction by gene transfer to industrially optimized strains

Development of natural products for therapeutic use is often hindered by limited availability of material from producing organisms. The speed at which current technologies enable the cloning, sequencing, and manipulation of secondary metabolite genes for production of novel compounds has made it impractical to optimize each new organism by conventional strain improvement procedures. We have exploited the overproduction properties of two industrial organisms—Saccharopolyspora erythraea and Streptomyces fradiae, previously improved for erythromycin and tylosin production, respectively—to enhance titers of polyketides produced by genetically modified polyketide synthases (PKSs). An efficient method for delivering large PKS expression vectors into S. erythraea was achieved by insertion of a chromosomal attachment site (attB) for φC31-based integrating vectors. For both strains, it was discovered that only the native PKS-associated promoter was capable of sustaining high polyketide titers in that strain. Expression of PKS genes cloned from wild-type organisms in the overproduction strains resulted in high polyketide titers whereas expression of the PKS gene from the S. erythraea overproducer in heterologous hosts resulted in only normal titers. This demonstrated that the overproduction characteristics are primarily due to mutations in non-PKS genes and should therefore operate on other PKSs. Expression of genetically engineered erythromycin PKS genes resulted in production of erythromycin analogs in greatly superior quantity than obtained from previously used hosts. Further development of these hosts could bypass tedious mutagenesis and screening approaches to strain improvement and expedite development of compounds from this valuable class of natural products.     

Stimulation of erythromycin a yield by integration of a chromosomal DNA fragment including the eryC1 gene into the chromosome of Saccharopolyspora erythraea

Summary A 5.2 kbp chromosomal DNA fragment including the eryC1 gene was integrated along with vector DNA into the chromosome of a S. erythraea wild-type strain. The erythromycin A production of transformants in the presence of thiostrepton was two to three times higher in comparison with the non-transformed wild-type strain.     

Enhancing of erythromycin production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharopolyspora erythraea</Emphasis> with common and uncommon oils

The enhancing effect of various concentrations of 18 oils and a silicon antifoam agent on erythromycin production by Saccharopolyspora erythraea was evaluated in a complex medium containing soybean flour and dextrin as the main substrates. The oils used consisted of sunflower, pistachio, cottonseed, melon seed, water melon seed, lard, corn, olive, soybean, hazelnut, rapeseed, sesame, shark, safflower, coconut, walnut, black cherry kernel and grape seed oils. The biomass, erythromycin, dextrin and oil concentrations and the pH value were measured. Also, the kinds and frequencies of fatty acids in the oils were determined. The productivity of erythromycin in the oil-containing media was higher than that of the control medium. However, oil was not suitable as a main carbon source for erythromycin production by S. erythraea. The highest titer of erythromycin was produced in medium containing 55 g/l black cherry kernel oil (4.5 g/l). The titers of erythromycin in the other media were also recorded, with this result: black cherry kernel > water melon seed > melon seed > walnut > rapeseed > soybean > (corn = sesame) > (olive = pistachio = lard = sunflower) > (hazelnut = cotton seed) > grape seed > (shark = safflower = coconut). In media containing various oils, the hyphae of S. erythraea were longer and remained in a vegetative form after 8 days, while in the control medium, spores were formed and hyphae were lysed.     

Metabolic state of Zymomonas mobilis in glucose-, fructose-, and xylose-fed continuous cultures as analysed by 13C- and 31P-NMR spectroscopy

The reasons for the well-known significantly different behaviour of the anaerobic, gram-negative, ethanologenic bacterium Zymomonas mobilis during growth on fructose (i.e. decreased growth and ethanol yields, increased by-product formation) as compared to that on its second natural substrate, glucose, have remained unexplained. A xylose-fermenting recombinant strain of Z. mobilis that was recently constructed in our laboratory also unexpectedly displayed an increased formation of by-products and a strongly reduced growth rate as compared to the parent strain. Therefore, a comprehensive study employing recently developed NMR-based methods for the in vivo analysis of intracellular phosphorylated pool sizes and metabolic fluxes was undertaken to enable a global characterization of the intracellular metabolic state of Z. mobilis during growth on ¹³C-labelled glucose, fructose and xylose in defined continuous cultures. The ¹³C-NMR flux analysis indicated that ribose 5-phosphate is synthesized via the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway in Z. mobilis, and it identified a metabolic bottleneck in the recombinant xylose-fermenting Z. mobilis strain at the level of heterologous xylulokinase. The ³¹P-NMR analyses revealed a global alteration of the levels of intracellular phosphorylated metabolites during growth on fructose as compared to that on glucose. The results suggest that this is primarily caused by an elevated concentration of intracellular fructose 6-phosphate. Received: 7 January 1999 / Accepted: 22 March 1999     

用于红霉素生产的500m3生物反应器的理性设计

红霉素(erythromycin)是由绛红色糖多胞菌(Saccharopolyspora erythraea)发酵生产的次级代谢产物,其生产水平不仅受发酵工艺的影响,也受反应器结构影响。为解决红霉素发酵过程放大问题,本研究采用时间常数法和计算流体力学(computational fluid dynamics,CFD)数值模拟验证相结合的方法设计了500m³超大规模红霉素耗氧发酵生物反应器。首先,通过对50L反应器红霉素发酵过程研究,发现溶氧是关键性限制因素,通过氧消耗速率(oxygen uptake rate,OUR)等参数分析计算得到设备的氧供应时间常数t_mt需小于6.25s。然后,基于时间常数法和经验关联式理性设计500m³反应器搅拌桨叶组合方式,即底层BDT8桨叶+两层MSX4桨叶的搅拌桨组合,并通过经验公式及CFD方法对设计结果进行了模拟验证。两种验证方法结果均表明500m³反应器采取底层BDT8桨叶+两层MSX4桨叶的组合方式时设备的氧供应时间常数小于6.25s,且反应器内流场特性(如持气率、剪切率和速度矢量等)均能满足红霉素大规模发酵的需要。经实际发酵验证,设计的生物反应器能够满足红霉素的工业规模发酵应用。     

基于比较代谢组学的理性优化方法提高阿维菌素产量

【目的】利用比较代谢组学的分析方法,研究不同发酵培养基中阿维链霉菌的胞内代谢差异,揭示合成阿维菌素的关键代谢物和代谢途径,再通过理性优化添加主要关键代谢物,提高阿维菌素产量。【方法】对M1和M2培养基中生长的菌体进行基于GC-MS的胞内代谢组学分析,通过理性添加强化前体代谢物,确定阿维菌素高产培养基。【结果】GC-MS共检测到232种物质,能够精确匹配70种胞内代谢物,通过PCA和PLS分析,最终确定了21种已知的胞内代谢物与阿维菌素的生物合成密切相关。其中乳酸、丙酮酸、琥珀酸、苏氨酸、异亮氨酸、缬氨酸和油脂类物质对阿维菌素的产量影响较为显著。通过单独或组合优化添加这些前体,阿维菌素的产量从5.36 g/L提高到了5.92 g/L,增加了10.4%。【结论】基于比较代谢组学分析的理性优化培养基的方法可有效提高阿维菌素的产量,并为提高当下生物基产品的产量提供了新思路。     

Controlling the feed rate of glucose and propanol for the enhancement of erythromycin production and exploration of propanol metabolism fate by quantitative metabolic flux analysis

In this paper, several different fermentation experiments were designed to address whether modulating glucose and propanol feeds could benefit the production level of erythromycin during pilot plant (30 L) fermentation. Results showed that glucose feed rate (determined by a set high or low culture pH) had no effect on erythromycin production, indicating that glucose was not the limiting factor for erythromycin biosynthesis under these conditions. It was found that decreasing glucose feed could stimulate the consumption of propanol, and the high erythromycin production (12.49 ± 0.50 mg ml^?1) was achieved by controlling the feed rates of glucose and propanol. The quantitative metabolic flux analysis disclosed that high propanol consumption increased the pool size of propionyl-CoA (~2.147 mmol g^?1 day^?1) and methylmalonyl-CoA (~1.708 mmolg^?1 day^?1). It was also found that 45–77 % of the propanol went into the TCA cycle which strengthened the conclusion that blocking the propionate pathway to TCA cycle could lead to a significant increase in erythromycin production in carbohydrate-based media (Reeves et al. Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 7:600–609, 2006). In addition, the results also suggested that a relative low intracellular ATP level resulting from low glucose feed did not limit the erythromycin biosynthesis, and a relatively high NADPH should be beneficial for erythromycin biosynthesis.     

高山被孢霉淬灭方法及胞内代谢产物的气相色谱-质谱分析比较

在花生四烯酸生产菌高山被孢霉代谢组学研究中,需利用胞内代谢物的提取手段并基于气相色谱-质谱（GC-MS）分析方法对其进行检测。比较了3种胞内代谢物提取方法及不同色谱柱条件下GC-MS分析结果。研究表明：采用冷甲醇淬灭分别较液氮直接淬灭及真空过滤后,减少了胞内代谢物的泄露并更好地实现了胞外及胞内代谢物的分离。在对代谢物分析的比较中,极性色谱柱（DB-FFAP）检出的代谢物仅为11种,主要为有机酸、醛类;而代谢物经衍生化后采用非极性色谱柱（DB-5）共检出32种化合物,主要为糖、糖苷及醇类。     

Metabolic engineering of<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Escherichia coli</Emphasis> for improved 6-deoxyerythronolide B production

Escherichia coli is an attractive candidate as a host for polyketide production and has been engineered to produce the erythromycin precursor polyketide 6-deoxyerythronolide B (6dEB). In order to identify and optimize parameters that affect polyketide production in engineered E. coli, we first investigated the supply of the extender unit (2S)-methylmalonyl-CoA via three independent pathways. Expression of the Streptomyces coelicolor malonyl/methylmalonyl-CoA ligase (matB) pathway in E. coli together with methylmalonate feeding resulted in the accumulation of intracellular methylmalonyl-CoA to as much as 90% of the acyl-CoA pool. Surprisingly, the methylmalonyl-CoA generated from the matB pathway was not converted into 6dEB. In strains expressing either the S. coelicolor propionyl-CoA carboxylase (PCC) pathway or the Propionibacteria shermanii methylmalonyl-CoA mutase/epimerase pathway, methylmalonyl-CoA accumulated up to 30% of the total acyl-CoA pools, and 6dEB was produced; titers were fivefold higher when strains contained the PCC pathway rather than the mutase pathway. When the PCC and mutase pathways were expressed simultaneously, the PCC pathway predominated, as indicated by greater flux of ¹³C-propionate into 6dEB through the PCC pathway. To further optimize the E. coli production strain, we improved 6dEB titers by integrating the PCC and mutase pathways into the E. coli chromosome and by expressing the 6-deoxyerythronolide B synthase (DEBS) genes from a stable plasmid system.S. Murli and J. Kennedy contributed equally to this work     

Isolation of isoflavones from soy-based fermentations of the erythromycin-producing bacterium Saccharopolyspora erythraea

A search for an abundant and economical source of isoflavones, particularly genistein, led to the discovery that the erythromycin-producing organism Saccharopolyspora erythraea also produces this promising new cancer-prevention agent. Erythromycin fermentation is a large-scale, soybean-based process used world-wide for the commercial production of this medically important antibiotic. Results from this study indicate that genistin (the glucoside form of genistein), which is added to the fermentation in the soybean media, was converted to genistein through the action of a β-glucosidase produced by the organism. Genistein was co-extracted with erythromycin from the fermentation broth, then separated from erythromycin during the second step of the purification process for the production of erythromycin. Received 10 September 1996 / Received revision: 22 November 1996 / Accepted: 7 December 1996