Production of L-Theanine Using Escherichia coli Whole-Cell Overexpressing γ-Glutamylmethylamide Synthetase with Bakers Yeast.

L-Theanine, found in green tea leaves has been shown to positively affect immunity and relaxation in humans. There have been many attempts to produce L-theanine through enzymatic synthesis to overcome the limitations of traditional methods. Among the many genes coding for enzymes in the L-theanine biosynthesis, glutamylmethylamide synthetase (GMAS) exhibits the greatest possibility of producing large amounts of production. Thus, GMAS from Methylovorus mays No. 9 was overexpressed in several strains including vectors with different copy numbers. BW25113(DE3) cells containing the pET24ma::gmas was selected for strains. The optimal temperature, pH, and metal ion concentration were 50°C, 7, and 5 mM MnCl2, respectively. Additionally, ATP was found to be an important factor for producing high concentration of L-theanine so several strains were tested during the reaction for ATP regeneration. Bakers yeast was found to decrease the demand for ATP most effectively. Addition of potassium phosphate source was demonstrated by producing 4-fold higher L-theanine. To enhance the conversion yield, GMAS was additionally overexpressed in the system. A maximum of 198 mM L-theanine was produced with 16.5 mmol/l/h productivity. The whole-cell reaction involving GMAS has greatest potential for scale-up production of L-theanine.

Production of glutaric acid from 5-aminovaleric acid using Escherichia coli whole cell bio-catalyst overexpressing GabTD from Bacillus subtilis.

Glutaric acid is one of the promising C5 platform compounds in the biochemical industry. It can be produced chemically, through the ring-opening of butyrolactone followed by hydrolysis. Alternatively, glutaric acid can be produced via lysine degradation pathways by microorganisms. In microorganisms, the overexpression of enzymes involved in this pathway from E. coli and C. glutamicum has resulted in high accumulation of 5-aminovaleric acid. However, the conversion from 5-aminovaleric acid to glutaric acid has resulted in a relatively low conversion yield for unknown reasons. In this study, as a solution to improve the production of glutaric acid, we introduced gabTD genes from B. subtilis to E. coli for a whole cell biocatalytic approach. This approach enabled us to determine the effect of co-factors on reaction and to achieve a high conversion yield from 5-aminovaleric acid at the optimized reaction condition. Optimization of whole cell reaction by different plasmids, pH, temperature, substrate concentration, and cofactor concentration achieved full conversion with 100 mM of 5-aminovaleric acid to glutaric acid. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAD(P)+) and α-ketoglutaric acid were found to be critical factors in the enhancement of conversion in selected conditions. Whole cell reaction with a higher concentration of substrates gave 141 mM of glutaric acid from 300 mM 5-aminovaleric acid, 150 mM α-ketoglutaric acid, and 60 mM NAD+ at 30 °C, with a pH of 8.5 within 24 h (47.1% and 94.2% of conversion based on 5-aminovaleric acid and α-ketoglutaric acid, respectively). The whole cell biocatalyst was recycled 5 times with the addition of substrates; this enabled the accumulation of extra glutaric acid.

Functional Study of Lysine Decarboxylases from Klebsiella pneumoniae in Escherichia coli and Application of Whole Cell Bioconversion for Cadaverine Production.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped, and encapsulated bacterium in the normal flora of the intestines, mouth, skin, and food, and has decarboxylation activity, which results in generation of diamines (cadaverine, agmatine, and putrescine). However, there is no specific information on the exact mechanism of decarboxylation in K. pnuemoniae. Specifically lysine decarboxylases that generate cadaverine with a wide range of applications has not been shown. Therefore, we performed a functional study of lysine decarboxylases. Enzymatic characteristics such as optimal pH, temperature, and substrates were examined by overexpressing and purifying CadA and LdcC. CadA and LdcC from K. pneumoniae had a preference for L-lysine, and an optimal reaction temperature of 37°C and an optimal pH of 7. Although the activity of purified CadA from K. pneumoniae was lower than that of CadA from E. coli, the activity of K. pneumoniae CadA in whole cell bioconversion was comparable to that of E. coli CadA, resulting in 90% lysine conversion to cadaverine with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate L-lysine.