High-level cell-free expression and functional characterization of a novel aquaporin from Photobactetrium profundum SS9

AqpSS9 is a novel aquaporin derived from the deep sea bacterium Photobactetrium profundum SS9 and has attracted many attentions in developing water filtration biomimetic membranes. Functional characterization of AqpSS9 was carried out first by its expression in E. coli MM1211 (aqpZ⁻). Results showed that it was similar to bacterial aquaporin Z (AqpZ) and functioned as a real aquaporin. In-vitro expression of AqpSS9 were systematically investigated using three different modes: precipitate-based cell-free (P-CF) mode, the detergent-based cell-free (D-CF) mode and lipid-based cell-free expression mode (L-CF). D-CF mode showed more superiority than P-CF and L-CF mode, and the highest expression level of 571 mg/l was achieved by adding 0.7% Brij-78. Then AqpSS9 was purified by affinity chromatograph and incorporated into DOPC liposomes. Osmotic water permeability values (P_f) of reconstituted AqpSS9 proteoliposomes was measured as 310.7 ± 3.2 μm/s, which was about 3.5 times of empty control liposomes and comparable to reported Aqps. The AqpSS9 embedded layer-by-layer (LbL) membrane was fabricated and tested, which showed enhanced water permeability and salt rejection in comparison with the control membrane. This work demonstrated the good performance of AqpSS9 as a water channel protein, which may become an alternative candidate for biomimetic membrane construction for water filtration.     

Improvement of succinate production by overexpression of a cyanobacterial carbonic anhydrase in Escherichia coli

Succinate fermentation was investigated in Escherichia coli strains overexpressing cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. 7120 ecaA gene encoding carbonic anhydrase (CA). In strain BL21 (DE3) bearing ecaA, the activity of CA was 21.8 U mg⁻¹ protein, whereas non-detectable CA activity was observed in the control strain. Meanwhile, the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) increased from 0.2 U mg⁻¹ protein to 1.13 U mg⁻¹ protein. The recombinant bearing ecaA reached a succinate yield of 0.39 mol mol⁻¹ glucose at the end of the fermentation. It was 2.1-fold higher than that of control strain which was just 0.19 mol mol⁻¹ glucose. EcaA gene was also introduced into E. coli DC1515, which was deficient in glucose phosphotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase and pyruvate:formate lyase. Succinate yield can be further increased to 1.26 mol mol⁻¹ glucose. It could be concluded that the enhancement of the supply of HCO₃⁻ in vivo by ecaA overexpression is an effective strategy for the improvement of succinate production in E. coli.     

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for the production of itaconate

The capability of Corynebacterium glutamicum for glucose-based synthesis of itaconate was explored, which can serve as building block for production of polymers, chemicals, and fuels. C. glutamicum was highly tolerant to itaconate and did not metabolize it. Expression of the Aspergillus terreus CAD1 gene encoding cis-aconitate decarboxylase (CAD) in strain ATCC13032 led to the production of 1.4 mM itaconate in the stationary growth phase. Fusion of CAD with the Escherichia coli maltose-binding protein increased its activity and the itaconate titer more than two-fold. Nitrogen-limited growth conditions boosted CAD activity and itaconate titer about 10-fold to values of 1440 mU mg⁻¹ and 30 mM. Reduction of isocitrate dehydrogenase activity via exchange of the ATG start codon to GTG or TTG resulted in maximal itaconate titers of 60 mM (7.8 g l⁻¹), a molar yield of 0.4 mol mol⁻¹, and a volumetric productivity of 2.1 mmol l⁻¹ h⁻¹.     

Position—Specific contribution of interface tryptophans on membrane protein energetics

Interface tryptophans are key residues that facilitate the folding and stability of membrane proteins. Escherichia coli OmpX possesses two unique interface tryptophans, namely Trp76, which is present at the interface and is solvent-exposed, and Trp140, which is relatively more lipid solvated than Trp76 in symmetric lipid membranes. Here, we address the requirement for tryptophan and the consequences of aromatic amino acid substitutions on the folding and stability of OmpX. Using spectroscopic measurements of OmpX-Trp/Tyr/Phe mutants, we show that the specific mutation W76 → Y allows barrel assembly > 1.5-fold faster than native OmpX, and increases stability by ~ 0.4 kcal mol^− 1. In contrast, mutating W140 → F/Y lowers OmpX thermodynamic stability by ~ 0.4 kcal mol^− 1, without affecting the folding kinetics. We conclude that the stabilizing effect of tryptophan at the membrane interface can be position—and local environment—specific. We propose that the thermodynamic contributions for interface residues be interpreted with caution.     

Efficient synthesis of l-tert-leucine through reductive amination using leucine dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase coexpressed in recombinant E. coli

Enantiopure l-tert-leucine (l-Tle) was synthesized through reductive amination of trimethylpyruvate catalyzed by cell-free extracts of recombinant Escherichia coli coexpressing leucine dehydrogenase (LeuDH) and formate dehydrogenase (FDH). The leudh gene from Lysinibacillus sphaericus CGMCC 1.1677 encoding LeuDH was cloned and coexpressed with NAD⁺-dependent FDH from Candida boidinii for NADH regeneration. The batch reaction conditions for the synthesis of l-Tle were systematically optimized. Two substrate feeding modes (intermittent and continuous) were addressed to alleviate substrate inhibition and thus improve the space-time yield. The continuous feeding process was conveniently performed in water at an overall substrate concentration up to 1.5 M, with both conversion and ee of >99% and space-time yield of 786 g L⁻¹ d⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, the preparation was successfully scaled up to a 1 L scale, demonstrating the developed procedure showed a great industrial potential for the production of enantiopure l-Tle.     

Succinic acid production from sucrose and molasses by metabolically engineered E. coli using a cell surface display system

To achieve sucrose-metabolizing capability, different sucrose utilization operons have been introduced into E. coli that cannot utilize sucrose. However, these engineered strains still suffer from low growth rates and low sucrose uptake rates. In this study, cell surface display system was adopted in engineered E. coli AFP111 for succinic acid production from sucrose and molasses directly. Invertase (CscA) from E. coli W was successfully anchored to outer membrane by fusion with OmpC anchoring motif, and the displayed CscA showed high extracellular activity. Compared with the sucrose permease system, the cell surface display system consumed less ATP during sucrose metabolism. When less ATP was consumed by AFP111/pTrcC-cscA, the succinic acid productivity from sucrose was 23% higher than that by AFP111/pCR2.1-cscBKA that having the sucrose permease system. As a result, 41 g L⁻¹ and 36.3 g L⁻¹ succinic acid were produced by AFP111/pTrcC-cscA from sucrose and sugarcane molasses respectively at 34 h in 3-L fermentor during dual-phase fermentation. In addition, 79 g L⁻¹ succinic acid was accumulated with recovered AFP111/pTrcC-cscA cells at the end of dual-phase fermentation in 3-L fermentor, and the overall yield was 1.19 mol mol⁻¹ hexose.     

Evaluation of the association of mercury(II) with some dicysteinyl tripeptides

The present study was undertaken to gain insight into the associations of mercury(II) with dicysteinyl tripeptides in buffered media at pH 7.4. We investigated the effects of increasing the distance between cysteinyl residues on mercury(II) associations and complex formations. The peptide–mercury(II) formation constants and their associated thermodynamic parameters in 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS) buffered solutions were evaluated by isothermal titration calorimetry. Complexes formed in different relative ratios of mercury(II) to cysteinyl peptides in ammonium formate buffered solutions were characterized by LTQ Orbitrap mass spectrometry. The results from these studies show that n-alkyl dicysteinyl peptides (CP 1–4), and an aryl dicysteinyl peptide (CP 5) can serve as effective “double anchors” to accommodate the coordination sites of mercury(II) to form predominantly one-to-one Hg(peptide) complexes. The aryl dicysteinyl peptide (CP 5) also forms the two-to-two Hg₂(peptide)₂ complex. In the presence of excess peptide, Hg(peptide)₂ complexes are also detected. Notably, increasing the distance between the ligating groups or “anchor points” in CP 1–5 does not significantly affect their affinity for mercury(II). However, the enthalpy change (ΔH) values (ΔH₁ ∼ −91 kJ mol⁻¹ and ΔH₂ ∼ −66 kJ mol⁻¹) for complex formation between CP 4 and 5 with mercury(II) are about one and a half times larger than the related values for CP 1, 2 and 3 (ΔH₁ ∼ −66 kJ mol⁻¹ and ΔH₂ ∼ 46 kJ mol⁻¹). The corresponding entropy change (ΔS) values (ΔS₁ ∼ −129 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹ and ΔS₂ ∼ −116 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹) of the structurally larger dicysteinyl peptides CP 4 and 5 are less entropically favorable than for CP 1, 2 and 3 (ΔS₁ ∼ −48 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹ and ΔS₂ ∼ −44 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹). Generally, these associations result in a decrease in entropy, indicating that these peptide–mercury complexes potentially form highly ordered structures. The results from this study show that dicysteinyl tripeptides are effective in binding mercury(II) and they are promising motifs for the design of multi-cysteinyl peptides for binding more than one mercury(II) ion per peptide.     

Evaluating fermentation effects on cell growth and crude extract metabolic activity for improved yeast cell-free protein synthesis

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a promising source organism for the development of a practical, eukaryotic crude extract based cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) system. Crude extract CFPS systems represent a snapshot of the active metabolism in vivo, in response to the growth environment at the time of harvest. Therefore, fermentation plays a central role in determining metabolic activity in vitro. Here, we developed a fermentation protocol using chemically defined media to maximize extract performance for S. cerevisiae-based CFPS. Using this new protocol, we obtained a 4-fold increase in protein synthesis yields with extracts derived from wild-type S288c as compared to a previously developed protocol that uses complex growth media. The final luciferase yield in our new method was 8.86 ± 0.28 μg mL⁻¹ in a 4 h batch reaction. For each of the extracts processed under different fermentation conditions, synthesized protein, precursor monomers (amino acids), and energy substrates (nucleotides) were evaluated to analyze the effect of the changes in the growth environment on cell-free metabolism. This study underscores the critical role fermentation plays in preparing crude extract for CFPS reactions and offers a simple strategy to regulate desired metabolic activity for cell-free synthetic biology applications based on crude cell extracts.     

CO2 fixation for succinic acid production by engineered Escherichia coli co-expressing pyruvate carboxylase and nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase

In wild-type Escherichia coli, 1 mol of CO₂ was fixated in 1 mol of succinic acid generation anaerobically. The key reaction in this sequence, catalyzed by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PPC), is carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate to oxaloacetate. Although inactivation of pyruvate formate-lyase and lactate dehydrogenase is found to enhance the PPC pathway for succinic acid production, it results in excessive pyruvic acid accumulation and limits regeneration of NAD⁺ from NADH formed in glycolysis. In other organisms, oxaloacetate is synthesized by carboxylation of pyruvic acid by pyruvate carboxylase (PYC) during glucose metabolism, and in E. coli, nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase (NAPRTase) is a rate-limiting enzyme of the NAD(H) synthesis system. To achieve the NADH/NAD⁺ ratio decrease as well as carbon flux redistribution, co-expression of NAPRTase and PYC in a pflB, ldhA, and ppc deletion strain resulted in a significant increase in cell mass and succinic acid production under anaerobic conditions. After 72 h, 14.5 g L⁻¹ of glucose was consumed to generate 12.08 g L⁻¹ of succinic acid. Furthermore, under optimized condition of CO₂ supply, the succinic acid productivity and the CO₂ fixation rate reached 223.88 mg L⁻¹ h⁻¹ and 83.48 mg L⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively.     

Construction of recombinant Escherichia coli for enhanced bioconversion of colchicine into 3-demethylated colchicine at 70 l bioreactor level

A recombinant strain of Escherichia coli with CYP102A1 gene was developed for the demethylation of colchicine into their derivatives. The CYP102A1 gene responsible for demethylation was isolated from Bacillus megaterium ACBT03 and amplified using suitable primers. The amplified product was cloned into pET28a+ expression vector using host E. coli BL21(DE3) cells. The CYP3A4 (product of CYP102A1 gene) protein expression and other parameters like substrate toxicity, product toxicity and enzyme activity were optimized in shake flasks; and further scaled-up to 5 l bioreactor with 3 l working volume. In 5 l bioreactor, dissolved oxygen (DO) was optimized for maximum specific growth and enhanced 3-demethylated colchicine (3-DMC) production. The optimized conditions from shake flasks were scaled-up to 70 l bioreactor and resulted into ∼80% conversion of 20 mM colchicine in 48 h with a volumetric productivity of 6.62 mg l⁻¹ h⁻¹. Scale-up factors were measured as volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient (k_La) i.e., 56 h⁻¹ and impeller tip velocity (V_tip) i.e., 7.065 m s⁻¹, respectively. The kinetic parameters K_m, k_cat, and k_cat/K_m of the CYP3A4 enzyme using colchicine as the substrate were determined to be 271 ± 30 μM, 8533 ± 25 min⁻¹, and 31.49 μM min⁻¹, respectively, when IPTG induced recombinant E. coli culture was used.     

Production of an anti-MUC1 C595 dbFv antibody fragment in recombinant Escherichia coli

The production of C595 diabody fragment (dbFv) in Escherichia coli (E. coli) HB2151 clone has been explored. The comparison of fermentation processes mode demonstrated that a higher biomass inoculum operation enhanced C595 dbFv production. It was demonstrated that a concentration of 12.1 mg l⁻¹ broth of dbFv and a cell concentration of 23.6 g l⁻¹ broth were achieved at the end of 75 l fermentation.     

Influence of specific growth rate over the secretory expression of recombinant potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor in fed-batch cultures of Escherichia coli

A high cell density cultivation protocol was developed for the secretory production of potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor (PCI) in Escherichia coli. The strain BW25113 (pIMAM3) was cultured in fed-batch mode employing minimal media and an exponential feed profile where the specific growth rate was fixed by limitation of the fed carbon source (glycerol). Plasmid loss rates were found to be proportional to the specific growth rate. Distribution of PCI along the cell compartments and the culture media was also dependent on the fixed growth rate. When specific growth rate was kept at μ = 0.10 h⁻¹, 1.4 g PCI L⁻¹ were obtained when adding the product present in periplasmic extracts and supernatant fractions, with a 50% of the total expressed protein recovered from the extracellular medium. This constituted a 1.2-fold increase compared to growth at μ = 0.15 h⁻¹, and 2.0-fold compared to μ = 0.25 h⁻¹. Last, a cell permeabilization treatment with Triton X-100 and glycine was employed to direct most of the product to the culture media, achieving over 81% of extracellular PCI. Overall, our results point out that production yields of secretory proteins in fed-batch cultures of E. coli can be improved by means of process variables, with applications to the production of small disulfide-bridged proteins. Overall, our results point out that control of the specific growth rate is a successful strategy to improve the production yields of secretory expression in fed-batch cultures of E. coli, with applications to the production of small disulfide-bridged proteins.     

Characterization and overproduction of a thermo-alkaline pectate lyase from alkaliphilic Bacillus licheniformis with potential in ramie degumming

A thermo-alkaline pectate lyase (BliPelA) gene from an alkaliphilic Bacillus licheniformis strain was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Mature BliPelA exhibited maximum activity at pH 11 and 70 °C, and demonstrated cleavage capability on a broad range of substrates such as polygalacturonic acid, pectins, and methylated pectins. The highest specific activity, of 320 U mg⁻¹, was towards polygalacturonic acid. Significant ramie (Boehmeria nivea) fiber weight loss (21.5%) was obtained following enzyme treatment and combined enzyme-chemical treatment (29.3%), indicating a high ramie degumming efficiency of BliPelA. The total activity of recombinant BliPelA reached 1450.1 U ml⁻¹ with a productivity of 48.3 U ml⁻¹ h⁻¹ under high-cell-density cultivation with a glycerol exponential feeding strategy for 30 h in 1-l fed-batch fermenter, and 1380.1 U ml⁻¹ with a productivity of 57.5 U ml⁻¹ h⁻¹ after 24 h under constant glucose feeding in a 20-l fermenter using E. coli as the host. The enzyme yields reached 4.5 and 4.3 g l⁻¹ in 1-l and 20-l fed-batch fermenters, respectively, which are higher than those of most reported alkaline Pels. Based on these promising properties and high-level production, BliPelA shows great potential for application in ramie degumming in textile industry.     

Cyanide hydratase from Aspergillus niger K10: Overproduction in Escherichia coli,purification, characterization and use in continuous cyanide degradation

A cyanide hydratase from Aspergillus niger K10 was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Apart from HCN, it transformed some nitriles, preferentially 2-cyanopyridine and fumaronitrile. V_max and K_m for HCN were ca. 6.8 mmol min⁻¹ mg⁻¹ protein and 109 mM, respectively. V_max for fumaronitrile and 2-cyanopyridine was two to three orders of magnitude lower than for HCN (ca. 18.8 and 10.3 μmol min⁻¹ mg⁻¹, respectively) but K_m was also lower (ca. 14.7 and 3.7 mM, respectively). Both cyanide hydratase and nitrilase activities were abolished in truncated enzyme variants missing 18–34 C-terminal aa residues. The enzyme exhibited the highest activity at 45 °C and pH 8–9; it was unstable at over 35 °C and at below pH 5.5. The operational stability of the whole-cell catalyst was examined in continuous stirred membrane reactors with 70-mL working volume. The catalyst exhibited a half-life of 5.6 h at 28 °C. A reactor loaded with an excess of the catalyst was used to degrade 25 mM KCN. A conversion rate of over 80% was maintained for 3 days.     

Volatile fatty acids accumulation and rhamnolipid generation in situ from waste activated sludge fermentation stimulated by external rhamnolipid addition

The solubilization and acidification of waste activated sludge (WAS) were apparently enhanced by external rhamnolipid (RL) addition. The maximum solute carbohydrate concentrations increased linearly from 48 ± 5 mg COD L⁻¹ in the un-pretreated WAS (blank) to 566 ± 19 mg COD L⁻¹, and protein increased from 1050 ± 8 to 3493 ± 16 mg COD L⁻¹ at RL dosage of 0.10 g g⁻¹ TSS. The highest VFAs concentration peaked at 3840 mg COD L⁻¹ at RL dosage of 0.04 g g⁻¹ TSS, which was 4.24-fold higher than the blank test. RL was generated in situ during WAS fermentation when external RL was added. It was detected that RL concentration was increased from initial 880 ± 92 mg L⁻¹ to 1312 ± 7 mg L⁻¹ at the end of 96 h with RL dosage of 0.04 g g⁻¹ TSS, which was increased to 1.49-fold. Meanwhile, methane production was notably reduced to a quite low level of 2.0 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ VSS, showing effective inhibition of methanogens by RL (58.8 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ VSS in the blank). In addition, the activity of hydrolytic enzymes (protease and α-glucosidase) was enhanced accordingly. VFAs accumulation and RL generation in situ demonstrated that the additional RL substantially performed enhanced biological effects for waste activated sludge fermentation.     

In vivo antimicrobial evaluation of an alanine-rich peptide derived from Pleuronectes americanus

In several organisms, the first barrier against microbial infections consists of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) which are molecules that act as components of the innate immune system. Recent studies have demonstrated that AMPs can perform various functions in different tissues or physiological conditions. In this view, this study was carried out in order to evaluate the multifunctional activity in vivo of an alanine-rich peptide, known as Pa-MAP, derived from the polar fish Pleuronectes americanus. Pa-MAP was evaluated in intraperitoneally infected mice with a sub-lethal concentration of Escherichia coli at standard concentrations of 1 and 5 mg kg⁻¹. At both concentrations, Pa-MAPs exhibited an ability to prevent E. coli infection and increase mice survival, similar to the result observed in mice treated with ampicillin at 2 mg kg⁻¹. In addition, mice were monitored for weight loss. The results showed that mice treated with Pa-MAPs at 1 mg kg⁻¹ gained 0.8% of body weight during the 72 h of experiment. The same was observed with Pa-MAP at 5 mg kg⁻¹, which had a gain of 0.5% in body weight during the treatment. Mice treated with ampicillin at 2 mg kg⁻¹ show a significant weight loss of 5.6% of body weight. The untreated group exhibited a 5.5% loss of body weight. The immunomodulatory effects were also evaluated by the quantification of IL-10, IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-γ and nitric oxide cytokines in serum, but no immunomodulatory activity was observed. Data presented here suggest that Pa-MAP should be used as a novel antibiotic against infection control.     

Synthesis of S-licarbazepine by asymmetric reduction of oxcarbazepine with Saccharomyces cerevisiae CGMCC No. 2266

S-licarbazepine was synthesized by asymmetric reduction of oxcarbazepine with CGMCC No. 2266. The optimum batch reduction conditions were found to consist of a reaction time of 36 h, temperature of 30 °C, and initial pH value of 7.0. The optimum concentration of the glucose co-substrate was found to be 0.3 mol L⁻¹. The addition of glucose contributed to in situ regeneration of NADPH in cells and improved conversion. Conversion increased with the addition of more biomass and with a decrease in the initial concentration of substrate. Within the membrane reactor, a continuous reduction process was used to improve production efficiency and reduce the inhibition of high-concentration substrate upon reduction. The optimum flux was found to be 20 ml h⁻¹. S-licarbazepine yield was 3.7678 mmol L⁻¹ d⁻¹ in continuous reduction over four days. The enantiometric excess of S-licarbazepine was 100% for both batch and continuous reduction processes.     

High-level production of soluble adenine nucleotide translocator from Schistosoma japonicum in E. coli cell-free system

Adenine nucleotide translocator is an important member of the mitochondrial carrier family, which is involved in the transportation of various metabolites. In the present work, the Escherichia coli cell-free system was chosen as an alternative way to express this highly toxic membrane protein. The expression level of insoluble sjANT from Schistosoma japonicum in E. coli cell-free system could attain 472 μg/mL, about 25.2 times improvement over the previous report. The obtained insoluble sjANT can be resolubilized with different detergents. Among them, Digitonin could effectively solubilize approximate 38% of the target membrane protein. Moreover, sjANT can be further expressed in the hydrophobic E. coli cell-free system as a soluble form with presence of different detergents. The results suggested that Digitonin and Brij 58 were two ideal candidates to support high expression of soluble sjANT, and the highest soluble expression level (182 μg/mL) was achieved with the supplementation of 0.4% (v/v) Digitonin in the cell-free system. The present work has provided a rapid and efficient procedure to express the complex and highly toxic membrane protein in the cell-free system, and will be beneficial to construct a novel drug-discovery model to screen the sjANT-based inhibitors for schistosomiasis treatment.     

Investigating the bioactivity of cells and cell-free extracts of Streptomyces griseus towards Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense race 4

The antifungal activity of viable cells of Streptomyces griseus (St 4) and its cell-free extracts were investigated against the pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense race 4 (FOC race 4), causal agent of wilt disease in bananas. Results from in vitro and soil assays showed cells and cell-free extracts of S. griseus were able to inhibit FOC race 4 with varying degree of success. Antifungal activity was attributed to chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase, detected in both cells and cell-free extracts, which caused lysis of fungal cell wall and inhibited sporulation. Interestingly, β-1,3-glucanase and chitinase activities were significantly higher in cell-free extracts compared to cells, with 8.30 and 5.43 against 7.96 and 4.95 U mL⁻¹, respectively. Application to soil however, showed inoculation using S. griseus cells were more effective in suppressing growth of FOC race 4 than crude extracts, with 6 log₁₀ CFU of FOC race 4 g⁻¹ soil enumerated compared to 7 log₁₀ CFU of FOC race 4 g⁻¹ soil after 20 days. To summarize, this study has shown that cell-free extracts of S. griseus have antifungal properties but may not be suitable for soil application in its current form (liquid suspension). Further investigations on bioformulation may address this limitation.     

Galactose-limited fed-batch cultivation of Escherichia coli for the production of lacto-N-tetraose

Lacto-N-tetraose (Gal(β1-3)GlcNAc(β1-3)Gal(β1-4)Glc) is one of the most abundant oligosaccharide structures in human milk. We recently described the synthesis of lacto-N-tetraose by a whole-cell biotransformation with recombinant Escherichia coli cells. However, only about 5% of the lactose was converted into lacto-N-tetraose by this approach. The major product obtained was the intermediate lacto-N-triose II (GlcNAc(β1-3)Gal(β1-4)Glc).In order to improve the bioconversion of lactose to lacto-N-tetraose, we have investigated the influence of the carbon source on the formation of lacto-N-tetraose and on the intracellular availability of the glycosyltransferase substrates, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine and UDP-galactose. By growth of the recombinant E. coli cells on D-galactose, the yield of lacto-N-tetraose (810.8 mg L⁻¹ culture) was 3.6-times higher compared to cultivation on D-glucose.Using fed-batch cultivation with galactose as sole energy and carbon source, a large-scale synthesis of lacto-N-tetraose was demonstrated. During the 26 h feeding phase the growth rate (μ = 0.05) was maintained by an exponential galactose feed. In total, 16 g L⁻¹ lactose were fed and resulted in final yields of 12.72 ± 0.21 g L⁻¹ lacto-N-tetraose and 13.70 ± 0.10 g L⁻¹ lacto-N-triose II. In total, 173 g of lacto-N-tetraose were produced with a space-time yield of 0.37 g L⁻¹ h⁻¹.