Effects of carbon sources and feeding strategies on heparosan production by Escherichia coli K5

This work aimed to develop an optimal carbon source feeding strategy to achieve maximal production of heparosan as a precursor of bioengineered heparin by Escherichia coli K5. Glycerol gave higher heparosan titer and productivity compared to glucose. The maximum heparosan production (187 mg/L) and heparosan productivity (5.19 mg/L/h) in glycerol-defined medium were 26.4% higher than the heparosan production (148 mg/L) and heparosan productivity (4.11 mg/L/h) in glucose-defined medium. DO-stat feeding approach as compared to pH-stat feeding, exponential feeding, exponential combined with pH-stat feeding, and constant rate feeding gave the highest heparosan titer at 8.63 g/L, which was nine times that of batch culture. The obtained optimal glycerol feeding strategy may be useful for the scaling-up of microbial heparosan production.