Utility of culture redox potential for identifying metabolic state changes in amino acid fermentation

We investigated the relationship of dissolved oxygen and culture redox potential (CRP) on amino acid production. Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 14296 was used for all experiments. The fermentation can be divided into a growth phase and a production phase. Our results indicate that in order to get higher amino acid production, a lower oxygen supply during the exponential phase is favored. A higher oxygen supply rate appears to be necessary during the production phase. Culture redox potential (CRP) was used to monitor the fermentation. CRP readings were observed to drop to a characteristic minimum value as the metabolic state changed from a growth to production phase. This was evidenced by the commencement of amino acid production and a simultaneous uptake of lactate. Upon lactate exhaustion, the CRP increased abruptly. At the same time, maximal amino acid yields were observed. By the use of minimum CRP as an indication of metabolic phase changes, the agitation rate was changed to increase oxygen supply during the production phase. This significantly increased amino acid production. These results show that culture redox potential measurements can be used to monitor and optimize amino acid production by process manipulation.     

Scale‐up of citric acid fermentation by redox potential control

To obtain high citric acid productivity in Aspergillus niger fermentation on beet molasses substrate, a certain redox potential profile with two maxima (260 and 280 mV) and two minima (180 and 80 mV) must be maintained. The most effective regulation of redox potential is by regulation of aeration and agitation. It has been shown that control of redox potential by aeration and agitation is a most successful method for scale‐up from 10‐L laboratory scale to the 100‐ and 1000‐L pilot‐plant scale, even in geometrically dissimilar stirred‐tank reactors. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 64: 552–557, 1999.     

通气对乳酸发酵过程的影响

对拟干酪乳杆菌发酵产乳酸的过程进行研究,通过改变不同的通气量(不通气、0.1vvm、0.2 vvm、0.5 vvm)确定0.1vvm的通气量最有利于产生乳酸;再通过优化通气策略,在发酵0～15 h不通空气,15～50 h通0.1 vvm空气使得乳酸的产量比全程通0.1 vvm空气又提高了11.7%,同时乳酸产率也提高了16.2%。最后通过对胞内NAD~+、NADH、乳酸脱氢酶和NADH氧化酶活性、以及发酵过程氧化还原电位(Oxidation-reduction potential,ORP)变化进行分析,阐述了通气影响乳酸发酵过程的机理。     

Synthesis of functionalized amino acid derivatives as new pharmacophores for designing anticancer agents

A new series of functionalized amino acid derivatives N-substituted 1-N-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-2,2-dimethyl-4-phenyl-5-oxazolidine carboxamide (1-17) and 1-N-substituted-3-amino-2-hydroxy-3-phenylpropane-1-carboxamide (18-34) were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines. Compound 6 has shown interesting cytotoxicity (IC₅₀ = 5.67 μm) in ovarian cancer, while compound 10 exhibited promising cytotoxicity in ovarian (IC₅₀ = 6.1 μm) and oral (IC₅₀ = 4.17 μm) cancers. These compounds could be of use in designing new anti-cancer agents.     

Reducing agent can be omitted in the incubation medium of the batch in vitro fermentation model of the pig intestines

Over the past decade, in vitro methods have been developed to study intestinal fermentation in pigs and its influence on the digestive physiology and health. In these methods, ingredients are fermented by a bacterial inoculum diluted in a mineral buffer solution. Generally, a reducing agent such as Na₂S or cysteine-HCl generates the required anaerobic environment by releasing metabolites similar to those produced when protein is fermented, possibly inducing a dysbiosis. An experiment was conducted to study the impact of two reducing agents on results yielded by such in vitro fermentation models. Protein (soybean proteins, casein) and carbohydrate (potato starch, cellulose) ingredients were fermented in vitro by bacteria isolated from fresh feces obtained from three sows in three carbonate-based incubation media differing in reducing agent: (i) Na₂S, (ii) cysteine-HCl and (iii) control with a mere saturation with CO₂ and devoid of reducing agent. The gas production during fermentation was recorded over 72 h. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) production after 24 and 72 h and microbial composition of the fermentation broth after 24 h were compared between ingredients and between reducing agents. The fermentation residues after 24 h were also evaluated in terms of cytotoxicity using Caco-2 cell monolayers. Results showed that the effect of the ingredient induced higher differences than the reducing agent. Among the latter, cysteine-HCl induced the strongest differences compared with the control, whereas Na₂S was similar to the control for most parameters. For all ingredients, final gas produced per g of substrate was similar (P>0.10) for the three reducing agents whereas the maximum rate of gas production (R_max) was reduced (P<0.05) when carbohydrate ingredients were fermented with cysteine-HCl in comparison to Na₂S and the control. For all ingredients, total SCFA production was similar (P>0.10) after 24 h of fermentation with Na₂S and in the control without reducing agent. Molar ratios of branched chain-fatty acids were higher (P<0.05) for protein (36.5% and 9.7% for casein and soybean proteins, respectively) than for carbohydrate (<4%) ingredients. Only fermentation residues of casein showed a possible cytotoxic effect regardless of the reducing agent (P<0.05). Concerning the microbial composition of the fermentation broth, most significant differences in phyla and in genera ascribable to the reducing agent were found with potato starch and casein. In conclusion, saturating the incubation media with CO₂ seems sufficient to generate a suitable anaerobic environment for intestinal microbes and the use of a reducing agent can be omitted.     

A simplified method for the estimation of individual amino acid radioactivity in plasma samples

A method is presented for the quantitative estimation of the individual amino acid radioactivity in biological samples. The material is deproteinized with cold acetone, and, after acetone evaporation, is passed through a column containing 1 g of Amberlite XAD-2, then eluted with 10% ethanol. The samples are derivatized with Sanger's reagent (alkaline 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene) and passed again through the Amberlite XAD-2 column; the 10% ethanol eluate is now discarded and the DNP-amino acids eluted with acetone. Aliquots are used for TLC chromatography on Silicagel plates; the spots are identified, cut away and their radioactivity estimated. The actual recovery of radioactivity in the spots is about 86-92% of the initial radioactivity. No contamination with radioactive glucose, lactate, pyruvate or glycerol has been observed.     

代谢过程中相关氨基酸对高密度发酵生产腺苷蛋氨酸的影响

对清酒酵母高密度发酵生产S-腺苷-L-蛋氨酸（SAM）代谢过程中的相关氨基酸进行了考察。分别考察了十二种氨基酸对生物量和SAM产量的影响。实验发现L-胱氨酸、L-半胱氨酸、L-赖氨酸、L-组氨酸和L-蛋氨酸对SAM的积累有利,其中L-赖氨酸和L-组氨酸可以提高生物量,进而提高SAM的产量;L-胱氨酸、L-半胱氨酸和L-蛋氨酸可以提高SAM的含量,但是会抑制生物量的增长。通过3种补加方式的比较,得到最优的补加方式为：L-赖氨酸和L-组氨酸在培养基中加入,L-胱氨酸,L-半胱氨酸和L-蛋氨酸采取在发酵过程前24h流加。通过正交实验确定补加量为：L-赖氨酸为1g／L,L-组氨酸为1g／L,L-胱氨酸为1．5g／L,L-半胱氨酸为1g／L,L-蛋氨酸为1g／L。将此结果应用于5L发酵罐培养,SAM最高产量为5．53g/L,生物量为128g／L。     

Grouping of amino acid types and extraction of amino acid properties from multiple sequence alignments using variance maximization

Understanding of amino acid type co-occurrence in trusted multiple sequence alignments is a prerequisite for improved sequence alignment and remote homology detection algorithms. Two objective approaches were used to investigate co-occurrence, both based on variance maximization of the weighted residue frequencies in columns taken from a large alignment database. The first approach discretely grouped amino acid types, and the second approach extracted orthogonal properties of amino acids using principal components analysis. The grouping results corresponded to amino acid physical properties such as side chain hydrophobicity, size, or backbone flexibility, and an optimal arrangement of approximately eight groups was observed. However, interpretation of the orthogonal properties was more complex. Although the principal components accounting for the largest variances exhibited modest correlations with hydrophobicity and conservation of glycine, in general principal components did not correspond to physical properties of amino acids. Although not intuitive, these amino acid mathematical properties were demonstrated to be robust and to improve local pairwise alignment accuracy, relative to 20 amino acid frequencies alone, for a simple test case.     

氨基酸转运载体LAT1研究进展

哺乳动物氨基酸的跨膜运输由多种氨基酸转运载体蛋白介导,其中L型氨基酸转运载体1（LAT1）属于L系统,主要转运大分子支链氨基酸和芳香族中性氨基酸。研究表明,LAT1广泛存在于哺乳动物肝脏、骨髓、大脑、胎盘、心脏和睾丸组织中,LAT1在恶性肿瘤中大量表达,对其不断的增殖起着重要的作用。目前国内对氨基酸转运载体LAT1的研究仍是空白,鉴于LAT1的研究在医学、营养等生命科学领域的研究意义,本文就氨基酸转运载体蛋白LAT1的表达、调节及其相关研究进展作一综述。     

Recognition of specific patterns of amino acid inhibition of growth in higher plants, uncomplicated by glutamine-reversible `general amino acid inhibition''

The complexity of the regulatory mechanisms that govern amino acid biosynthesis, particularly in multibranched pathways, frequently results in sensitivity to growth inhibition by exogenous amino acids. Usually the inhibition caused by a given amino acid(s) is relieved by another amino acid(s), thus indicating the cause of inhibition to be a specific interference with endogenous formation of the latter amino acid(s). We recently summarized the evidence that Nicotiana silvestris (and probably most higher plants), in suspension culture, exhibits a separate phenomenon of amino acid mediated growth inhibition called general amino acid inhibition. Every amino acid provokes general amino acid inhibition except for

Full-size image

-glutamine. In fact,

Full-size image

-glutamine completely overcomes general amino acid inhibition. We have now demonstrated that specific amino acid inhibition can be recognized and characterized at the level of growth inhibition without interference caused by general amino acid inhibition by the simple provision of exogenous

Full-size image

-glutamine. Several examples of specific amino acid inhibition of growth were demonstrated in N. silvestris. In one case,

Full-size image

-threonine inhibits growth partially in the presence of

Full-size image

-glutamine. The residual amino acid inhibition was overcome by the additional presence of

Full-size image

-lysine and

Full-size image

-methionine, indicating that exogenous

Full-size image

-threonine specifically inhibits the biosynthesis of both

Full-size image

-lysine and

Full-size image

-methionine. As a second example, the

Full-size image

-valine-mediated inhibition of growth that persisted in the presence of

Full-size image

-glutamine was overcome by

Full-size image

-isoleucine, indicating that exogenous

Full-size image

-valine inhibits

Full-size image

-isoleucine biosynthesis. The use of amino acid analogs as experimental tools for biochemical-genetic studies in higher plants is also complicated by general amino acid inhibition. Conditions were demonstrated under which p-fluorophenylalanine and m-fluorotyrosine could be used as specific antimetabolites of

Full-size image

-phenylalanine and

Full-size image

-tyrosine biosynthesis without interference from general amino acid inhibition. We thus present a rigorous basis for recognition of specific relationships between metabolic branches that can guide detailed enzymological analyses.     

Hind leg muscle amino acid balances in cold-exposed rats

The changes in hind leg tissue (muscle and skin) amono acid pool size and arteriovenous balance were measured in rats subjected to 0–90 min of cold exposure (4°C). Tissue free amino acid pools presented a different composition pattern from protein amino acids. Muscle rapidly reacted to cold exposure by releasing small amounts of some amino acids (alanine, aspartate), with only small changes in pool size during the first 30 min. Amino acid oxidation was very limited during the whole period of cold exposure, since at all times tested there was either nil ammonia efflux or net absorption of ammonia and glutamine; i.e. the muscle was in positive nitrogen balance throughout the period studied. Thus most of the amino acid nitrogen taken up from the blood and not found in the free amino pools must have been incorporated into protein, since it was not oxidized, as shown by the glutamine and ammonia blance. The data on amino acid incorporation into proteins indicate that hind leg protein turnover is rapidly and widely modulated from a low initial setting upon cold exposure to a higher protein synthesis rate immediately afterwards, suggesting that protein turnover may have an important role in short-term events in cold-exposed muscle, in addition to its influence in long-term adaptation.     

Utilization of aromatic amino acids as nitrogen sources in Brevibacterium linens: an inducible aromatic amino acid aminotransferase

The first step of the utilization of the aromatic amino acids as sole nitrogen sources by Brevibacterium linens strain 47 was found to be a transamination. The deaminated metabolites of the amino acids were detected in culture supernatants, and the enzyme activity was identified in cell free extracts. The cells contained increased aromatic amino acid aminotransferase activities on growth on the aromatic amino acids as sole nitrogen sources. Two aromatic aminotransferases (AT-I and AT-II) were separated upon diethylaminoethyl-Trisacryl M column chromatography of cell free extracts. Only AT-I was responsible for the increased level of aromatic amino acid aminotransferase activity of induced cells. The results suggested a catabolic role of AT-I in vivo.Abbreviations DNP dinitrophenyl - HPLC high performance liquid chromatography - PLP pyridoxal-5-phosphate     

氧化还原电位对Actinobacillus succinogenes厌氧发酵生产丁二酸的影响

为提高琥珀酸放线菌Actinobacillus succinogenes CGMCC1593厌氧发酵产丁二酸的水平。研究了以葡萄糖为C源,发酵液中不同氧化还原电位（VORP）对A．succirtogenes CGMCC1593生长和代谢产物分布的影响。结果表明：菌体生长和丁二酸积累的较佳VORP分别为-220mV和-270mV;利用代谢流分析法,比较VORP在-220mV和-270mV时发酵对数生长期（8h）和稳定期（20h）的代谢通量分布,以及发酵过程中磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸（PEP）、丙酮酸（Pyr）节点,NADH通量分配的变化,由此得出在VORP为-270mV时,NADH总通量和丁二酸方向代谢通量增幅明显。在发酵过程中,通过降低VORP至-270mV,使丁二酸的产率从70％提高到85％。     

氨基酸发酵生产的研究进展

由于氨基酸在食品、饲料、医药、农业和日用化工等方面有极其广泛的用途,尤其随着抗癌药物制剂、氨基酸输液制剂及甜味二肽生产的飞速发展,对原料氨基酸的需求量日益增长。传统的发酵工业越来越不能满足需求,势必被以基因工程为基础的新兴发酵工业所代替。通过对发酵法生产氨基酸的历史进行回顾,及对未来前景作出展望,指出了运用ＤＮＡ 重组、定向突变等手段,对代谢途径及关键酶进行了深入系统的研究的必要性。     

Neutral amino acid transport in Leishmania promastigotes

Neutral amino acid transport was investigated in Leishmania promastigotes. Proline and alanine transport occur against their concentration gradient although there is a very rapid (40% at 30 min) conversion of proline to alanine. Uptake of these amino acids occurs by a sodium-independent route which is completely eliminated by addition of CCCP or KCN. $\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>m</mtext>}}$ values for proline and alanine are 80 μM and 63 μM with $\text{V}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>max</mtext>}}$ values of 6.4 and 7.2 nmol/min per mg dry weight, respectively. Countertransport of proline, alanine and phenylalanine was measured by loading the cells with a variety of neutral amino acids and proline analogs, followed by CCCP addition. The effect of aminooxyacetic acid, an inhibitor of alanine aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.2), on proline and alanine countertransport was also examined. The results obtained are consistent with the presence of at least two systems for neutral amino acid transport in Leishmania promastigotes.     

Peptidases and amino acid catabolism in lactic acid bacteria

The conversion of peptides to free amino acids and their subsequent utilization is a central metabolic activity in prokaryotes. At least 16 peptidases from lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been characterized biochemically and/or genetically. Among LAB, the peptidase systems of Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactococcus lactis have been examined in greatest detail. While there are homologous enzymes common to both systems, significant differences exist in the peptidase complement of these organisms. The characterization of single and multiple peptidase mutants indicate that these strains generally exhibit reduced specific growth rates in milk compared to the parental strains. LAB can also catabolize amino acids produced by peptide hydrolysis. While the catabolism of amino acids such as Arg, Thr, and His is well understood, few other amino acid catabolic pathways from lactic acid bacteria have been characterized in significant detail. Increasing research attention is being directed toward elucidating these pathways as well as characterizing their physiological and industrial significance.     

生产氨基酸的基因工程菌研究进展

随着抗癌药物制剂、氨基酸输液制剂及甜味二肽生产的飞速发展,对原料氨基酸的需求量日益增长。传统的发酵工业越来越不能满足需求,势必被以基因工程为基础的新兴发酵工业所代替。通过建立大肠杆菌及棒状杆菌的高效载体受体系统,运用ＤＮＡ重组、定向突变等手段,对代谢途径及关键酶进行了深入系统的研究,为代谢工程注入了新的活力,为获得高产、优质且易于自动化生产的菌株打下了基础     

Polysulfone affinity membranes for the treatment of amino acid mixtures

Affinity membranes for the treatment of solutions containing amino acids were obtained via lithiating polysulfone that was subsequently converted with glycidylether. From this polymer asymmetric ultrafiltration membranes were cast. The membranes were reacted with iminodiacetic acid yielding membranes fitted out with bidentate chelates. The same reaction path was applied to commercially available symmetric microfiltration membranes. The chelate-bearing membranes were complexed with Cu, Ni, and Zn ions. For the experiments with amino acids only the Cu-complexed membranes were used. The complexation constants for histidine and tryptophan for six different membranes were determined. Because of the affinity of these two amino acids for the complexed Cu ions, they could easily be separated from solutions containing amino acids such as alanine, glycine, and valine. Also, concentrating very dilute amino acid solutions was carried out successfully. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.