Efficient ethanol production from glucose, lactose, and xylose by recombinant Escherichia coli.

Lactose and all of the major sugars (glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, and mannose) present in cellulose and hemicellulose were converted to ethanol by recombinant Escherichia coli containing plasmid-borne genes encoding the enzymes for the ethanol pathway from Zymomonas mobilis. Environmental tolerances, plasmid stability, expression of Z. mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase, substrate range, and ethanol production (from glucose, lactose, and xylose) were compared among eight American Type Culture Collection strains. E. coli ATCC 9637(pLO1297), ATCC 11303(pLO1297), and ATCC 15224(pLO1297) were selected for further development on the basis of environmental hardiness and ethanol production. Volumetric ethanol productivities per hour in batch culture were 1.4 g/liter for glucose (12%), 1.3 g/liter for lactose (12%), and 0.64 g/liter for xylose (8%). Ethanol productivities per hour ranged from 2.1 g/g of cell dry weight with 12% glucose to 1.3 g/g of cell dry weight with 8% xylose. The ethanol yield per gram of xylose was higher for recombinant E. coli than commonly reported for Saccharomyces cerevisiae with glucose. Glucose (12%), lactose (12%), and xylose (8%) were converted to (by volume) 7.2% ethanol, 6.5% ethanol, and 5.2% ethanol, respectively.     

Parametric studies of ethanol production form xylose and other sugars by recombinant Escherichia coli

The conversion of xylose to ethanol by recombinant Escherichia coli has been investigated in pH-controlled batch fermentations. Chemical and environmental parameters were varied to determine tolerance and to define optimal conditions. Relatively high concentrations of ethanol (56 g/L) were produced from xylose with excellent efficiencies. Volumetric productivities of up to 1.4 g ethanol/L h were obtained. Productivities, yields, and final ethanol concentrations achieved from xylose with recombinant E. coli exceeded the reported values with other organisms. In addition to xylose, all other sugar constituents of biomass (glucose, mannose, arabinose, and galactose) were efficiently converted to ethanol by recombinant E. coli. Unusually low inocula equivalent to 0.033 mg of dry cell weight/L were adequate for batch fermentations. The addition of small amounts of calcium, magnesium, and ferrous ions stimulated fermentation. The inhibitory effects of toxic compounds (salts, furfural, and acetate) which are present in hemicellulose hydrolysates were also examined.     

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) production from xylose by recombinant Escherichia coli

Several recombinant Escherichia coli strains harboring the Alcaligenes eutrophus polyhydroxyalkanoate biosynthesis genes were used to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), PHB, from xylose. By flask culture of TG1 (pSYL107) in a defined medium containing 20?g/l xylose, PHB concentration of 1.7?g/l was obtained. Supplementation of a small amount of cotton seed hydrolysate or soybean hydrolysate could enhance PHB production by more than two fold. The PHB concentration, PHB content, and PHB yield on xylose obtained by supplementing soybean hydrolysate were 4.4?g/l, 73.9%, and 0.226?g PHB/g xylose, respectively.     

利用大肠杆菌工程菌廉价高效生产聚羟基丁酸酯

利用大肠杆菌生产聚羟基脂肪酸酯是近来国际上生物可降解塑料的研究热点,本研究通过对适宜于聚羟基脂肪酸酯生产的大肠杆菌菌株的选择和碳源利用试验,初步确立了大肠杆菌代谢工程改造生产聚羟基脂肪酸酯的基础。并在此基础上,通过对大肠杆菌磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸葡萄糖转移酶系统的改造和工程菌环境诱导系统的应用,解决了大肠杆菌工程菌无法同时利用多种碳源合成聚羟基脂肪酸酯的难题。发酵试验证明,工程化改造的大肠杆菌利用廉价底物在5L发酵罐中分批培养32h后,菌体终浓度能够达到8.24g/L,聚羟基脂肪酸酯占细胞干重的84.6%。     

Mathematical modelling of ethanol production from glucose/xylose mixtures by recombinant Zymomonas mobilis

A model has been developed for the fermentation of mixtures of glucose and xylose by recombinant Zymomonas mobilis strain ZM4(pZB5), containing additional genes for xylose assimilation and metabolism. A two-substrate model based on substrate limitation, substrate inhibition, and product (ethanol) inhibition was evaluated, and experimental data was compared with model simulations using a Microsoft EXCEL based program and methods of statistical analysis for error minimization. From the results it was established that the model provides good predictions of experimental batch culture data for 25/25, 50/50, and 65/65 g l^–1 glucose/xylose media.     

An ethanol-tolerant recombinant Escherichia coli expressing Zymomonas mobilis pdc and adhB genes for enhanced ethanol production from xylose

An ethanol-tolerant mutant, ET1, was isolated by an enrichment method from Escherichia coli JM109. Strains JM109 and ET1 were transformed with expression vector pZY507bc containing Zymomonas mobilis alcohol dehydrogenase II (adhB) and pyruvate decarboxylase (pdc) genes, resulting in an ethanol-sensitive recombinant strain JMbc and an ethanol-tolerant recombinant strain, ET1bc. Alcohol dehydrogenase and pyruvate decarboxylase activities were 24 and 32% lower, respectively, in JMbc than in ET1bc. ET1bc fermented 10% (w/v) xylose to give 39.4 g ethanol/l (77%, theoretical yield), a 1.3-fold increase compared with the ethanol-sensitive strain JMbc.     

Kinetics of ethanol production by recombinant Escherichia coli KO11

The fermentation kinetics for separate as well as simultaneous glucose and xylose fermentation with recombinant ethanologenic Escherichia coli KO11 are presented. Glucose and xylose were consumed simultaneously and exhibited mutual inhibition. The glucose exhibited 15 times stronger inhibition in xyclose fermentation than vice versa. The fermentation of condensate from steampretreated willow (Salix) was investigated. The kinetics were studied in detoxified as well as in nondetoxified condensate. The fermentation of the condensate followed two phases: First the glucose and some of the pentoses (xylose in addition to small amounts of arabinose) were fermented simultaneously, and then the remaining part of the pentoses were fermented. The rate of the first phase was independent of the detoxification method used, whereas the rate of the second phase was found to be strongly dependent. When the condensate was detoxified with overliming in combination with sulfite, which was the best detoxification method investigated, the sugars in the condensate, 9 g/L, were fermented in 11 h. The same fermentation took 150 h in nondetoxified condensate. The experimental data were used to develop an empirical model, describing the batch fermentation of recombinant E. coli KO11 in the condensate. The model is based on Monod kinetics including substrate and product inhibition and the sum of the inhibition exerted by the rest of the inhibitors, lumped together. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

重组大肠杆菌利用木糖发酵产高纯度L-乳酸

对重组大肠杆菌JH16利用木糖产高纯度的三一乳酸进行研究。通过无氧管驯化EscherwhiacdiJH12菌株得到E．coliJH16,驯化后的菌株茵体浓度提高了31％,乙酸积累减少了43％;在摇瓶中考察不同Mg2＋浓度对EcoliJHl6产三一乳酸的影响,确定最适Mg2＋质量浓度为0．25g/L;EcoEJH16以60g/L木糖为C源,在7L全自动发酵罐中添加0．25g／LMg2＋,乳酸积累量提高了18％,达38．18g/L,乳酸纯度高达95％;E．coliJH16在30g／L木糖和30g／L葡萄糖混合C源中,优先利用葡萄糖,当葡萄糖质量浓度低于1．56g/L后,菌体开始利用木糖进行乳酸发酵,最终得到39g／L乳酸。     

Efficient production of 2-deoxy-scyllo-inosose from d-glucose by metabolically engineered recombinant Escherichia coli

2-Deoxy-scyllo-inosose (DOI) is a six-membered carbocycle formed from d-glucose-6-phosphate catalyzed by 2-deoxy-scyllo-inosose synthase (DOIS), a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of 2-deoxystreptamine-containing aminocyclitol antibiotics. DOI is valuable as a starting material for the benzene-free synthesis of catechol and other benzenoids. We constructed a series of metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains by introducing a DOIS gene (btrC) from Bacillus circulans and disrupting genes for phosphoglucose isomerase, d-glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and phosphoglucomutase (pgi, zwf and pgm, respectively). It was found that deletion of the pgi gene, pgi and zwf genes, pgi and pgm genes, or all pgi, zwf and pgm genes significantly improved DOI production by recombinant E. coli in 2YTG medium (3% glucose) up to 7.4, 6.1, 11.6, and 8.4 g l(-1), respectively, compared with that achieved by wild-type recombinant E. coli (1.5 g l(-1)). Moreover, E. coli mutants with disrupted pgi, zwf and pgm genes showed strongly enhanced DOI productivity of up to 29.5 g l(-1) (99% yield) in the presence of mannitol as a supplemental carbon source. These results demonstrated that DOI production by metabolically engineered recombinant E. coli may provide a novel, efficient approach to the production of benzenoids from renewable d-glucose.     

大肠杆菌利用葡萄糖和木糖合成乙醇酸、乳酸和3-羟基丁酸共聚酯

以大肠杆菌为宿主,构建了以葡萄糖和木糖为底物获得乙醇酸、乳酸和3-羟基丁酸共聚酯的生物合成途径,包括过表达塔格糖-3-差向异构酶、核酮糖激酶、醛缩酶、醛脱氢酶、丙酰辅酶A转移酶、β-酮硫解酶、乙酰乙酰辅酶A还原酶和聚合酶等。在此基础上,表达聚羟基脂肪酸酯颗粒结合蛋白,提高了聚合物的合成,重组菌的细胞干重达到3.73g/L,含有38.72wt%的共聚酯。采用混菌共培养策略,实现以葡萄糖和木糖混合物为底物合成共聚酯,摇瓶实验中细胞干重达到4.01g/L,含有21.54wt%的聚合物。文中提供了一种以葡萄糖和木糖混合物为碳源合成聚合物的方法,为下一步纤维素水解物的有效利用提供了参考。     

Butanol production from glycerol by recombinant Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli MG1655 (DE3) with the ability to synthesize butanol from glycerol was constructed by metabolic engineering. The genes thil, adhe2, bcs operon (crt, bcd, etfB, etfA, and hbd) were cloned into the plasmid vectors, pETDuet-1 and pACYCDuet-1, then the two resulting plasmids, pACYC-thl-bcs and pET-adhe2, were transferred to E. coli, and the recombinant strain was able to synthesize up to 18.5 mg/L butanol on a glycerol-containing medium. After the glycerol transport protein gene GlpF was expressed, the butanol production was improved to 22.7 mg/L. The competing pathway of byproducts, such as ethanol, succinate, and lactate, was subsequently deleted to improve the 1-butanol production to 97.9 mg/L. Moreover, a NADH regeneration system was introduced into the E. coli, and finally a 154.0 mg/L butanol titer was achieved in a laboratory-scale shake-flask experiment.     

Improved strains of recombinant Escherichia coli for ethanol production from sugar mixtures

Hemicellulose hydrolysates of agricultural residues often contain mixtures of hexose and pentose sugars. Ethanologenic Escherichia coli that have been previously investigated preferentially ferment hexose sugars. In some cases, xylose fermentation was slow or incomplete. The purpose of this study was to develop improved ethanologenic E. coli strains for the fermentation of pentoses in sugar mixtures. Using fosfomycin as a selective agent, glucose-negative mutants of E. coli KO11 (containing chromosomally integrated genes encoding the ethanol pathway from Zymomonas mobilis) were isolated that were unable to ferment sugars transported by the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system. These strains (SL31 and SL142) retained the ability to ferment sugars with independent transport systems such as arabinose and xylose and were used to ferment pentose sugars to ethanol selectively in the presence of high concentrations of glucose. Additional fosfomycin-resistant mutants were isolated that were superior to strain KO11 for ethanol production from hexose and pentose sugars. These hyperproductive strains (SL28 and SL40) retained the ability to metabolize all sugars tested, completed fermentations more rapidly, and achieved higher ethanol yields than the parent. Both SL28 and SL40 produced 60 gl^–1 ethanol from 120 gl^–1 xylose in 60 h, 20% more ethanol than KO11 under identical conditions. Further studies illustrated the feasibility of sequential fermentation. A mixture of hexose and pentose sugars was fermented with near theoretical yield by SL40 in the first step followed by a second fermentation in which yeast and glucose were added. Such a two-step approach can combine the attributes of ethanologenic E. coli for pentoses with the high ethanol tolerance of conventional yeasts in a single vessel.     

Low salt medium for lactate and ethanol production by recombinant Escherichia coli B

Individual nutrient salts were experimentally varied to determine the minimum requirements for efficient l(+)-lactate production by recombinant strains of Escherichia coli B. Based on these results, AM1 medium was formulated with low levels of alkali metals (4.5 mM and total salts (4.2 g l⁻¹). This medium was equally effective for ethanol production from xylose and lactate production from glucose with average productivities of 18–19 mmol l⁻¹ h⁻¹ for both (initial 48 h of fermentation).     

Improvements in ethanol production from xylose by mating recombinant xylose-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains

To improve the ability of recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains to utilize the hemicellulose components of lignocellulosic feedstocks, the efficiency of xylose conversion to ethanol needs to be increased. In the present study, xylose-fermenting, haploid, yeast cells of the opposite mating type were hybridized to produce a diploid strain harboring two sets of xylose-assimilating genes encoding xylose reductase, xylitol dehydrogenase, and xylulokinase. The hybrid strain MN8140XX showed a 1.3- and 1.9-fold improvement in ethanol production compared to its parent strains MT8-1X405 and NBRC1440X, respectively. The rate of xylose consumption and ethanol production was also improved by the hybridization. This study revealed that the resulting improvements in fermentation ability arose due to chromosome doubling as well as the increase in the copy number of xylose assimilation genes. Moreover, compared to the parent strain, the MN8140XX strain exhibited higher ethanol production under elevated temperatures (38 °C) and acidic conditions (pH 3.8). Thus, the simple hybridization technique facilitated an increase in the xylose fermentation activity.     

Efficient production of methionine from 2-amino-4-methylthiobutanenitrile by recombinant Escherichia coli harboring nitrilase

Methionine as an essential amino acid has been attracting more attention for its important applications in food and feed additives. In this study, for efficient production of methionine from 2-amino-4-methylthiobutanenitrile, a codon-optimized nitrilase gene was newly synthesized and expressed, and the catalytic conditions for methionine production were studied. The optimal temperature and pH for methionine synthesis were 40 °C and 7.5, respectively. The recombinant nitrilase was thermo-stable with half-life of 5.52 h at 40 °C. The substrate loading was optimized in given amount of catalyst and fixed substrate/catalyst ratio mode to achieve higher productivity. Methionine was produced in 100 % conversion within 120 min with a substrate loading of 300 mM. The production of methionine with the immobilized resting cells in packed-bed reactor was investigated. The immobilized nitrilase exhibited good operation stability and retained over 80 % of the initial activity after operating for 100 h. After separation, the purity and the total yield of methionine reached 99.1 and 97 %, respectively. This recombinant nitrilase could be a potential candidate for application in production of methionine.     

Efficient production of L-ribose with a recombinant Escherichia coli biocatalyst

A new synthetic platform with potential for the production of several rare sugars, with l-ribose as the model target, is described. The gene encoding the unique NAD-dependent mannitol-1-dehydrogenase (MDH) from Apium graveolens (garden celery) was synthetically constructed for optimal expression in Escherichia coli. This MDH enzyme catalyzes the interconversion of several polyols and their l-sugar counterparts, including the conversion of ribitol to l-ribose. Expression of recombinant MDH in the active form was successfully achieved, and one-step purification was demonstrated. Using the created recombinant E. coli strain as a whole-cell catalyst, the synthetic utility was demonstrated for production of l-ribose, and the system was improved using shaken flask experiments. It was determined that addition of 50 to 500 microM ZnCl(2) and addition of 5 g/liter glycerol both improved production. The final levels of conversion achieved were >70% at a concentration of 40 g/liter and >50% at a concentration of 100 g/liter. The best conditions determined were then scaled up to a 1-liter fermentation that resulted in 55% conversion of 100 g/liter ribitol in 72 h, for a volumetric productivity of 17.4 g liter(-1) day(-1). This system represents a significantly improved method for the large-scale production of l-ribose.     

Alcohol production from glucose and xylose usingEscherichia coli containingZymomonas mobilis genes

Summary AnEscherichia coli strain containing a recombinant plasmid encoding the pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase genes fromZymomonas mobilis metabolized glucose and xylose to near theoretical yields of ethanol. Enzyme activity measurements indicate high expression levels of both plasmid-encodedZymomonas proteins in the recombinantE. coli. The expression inE. coli is under the control of a promoter in theZymomonas sequence upstream of the pyruvate decarboxylase gene. The maximum ethanol level, using 4% glucose as substrate, was 1.8% (w/v) in anaerobic conditions. In aerobic conditions the natural repression ofE. coli alcohol dehydrogenase results in less ethanol production from clones expressing onlyZymomonas pyruvate decarboxylase.     

Efficient production of thermostable Thermus thermophilus xylose isomerase in Escherichia coli and Bacillus brevis

Summary The xylose (glucose) isomerase from the thermophile Thermus thermophilus seems to have potential for the development of new isomerization processes using high temperatures and slightly acidic pH. The isomerase has an optimum temperature at 95° C, and is also very stable at high temperatures. The optimum pH is around 7.0, close to where by-product formation is minimal. Since Thermus produces only a little of this useful isomerase, the production of the cloned gene in Escherichia coli and Bacillus brevis were compared. Especially B. brevis was able to produce the isomerase effeciently, more than 1 g/l, in spite of the high G + content (67%) of the Thermus gene, and the presence of codons not frequently used in E. coli or B. brevis.Offprint requests to: S. Udaka