ABSTRACT
Sugarcane molasses containing large amounts of sucrose is an economical substrate for succinic acid production. However, Escherichia coli AFP111 cannot metabolize sucrose although it is a promising candidate for succinic acid production. To achieve sucrose utilizing ability, we cloned and expressed cscBKA genes encoding sucrose permease, fructokinase and invertase of non-PTS sucrose-utilization system from E. coli W in E. coli AFP111 to generate a recombinant strain AFP111/pMD19T-cscBKA. After 72 h of anaerobic fermentation of the recombinant in serum bottles, 20 g/L sucrose was consumed and 12 g/L succinic acid was produced. During dual-phase fermentation comprised of initial aerobic growth phase followed by anaerobic fermentation phase, the concentration of succinic acid from sucrose and sugarcane molasses was 34 g/L and 30 g/L, respectively, at 30 h of anaerobic phase in a 3 L fermentor. The results show that the introduction of non-PTS sucrose-utilization system has sucrose-metabolizing capability for cell growth and succinic acid production, and can use cheap sugarcane molasses to produce succinic acid.