Structural basis for the allosteric pathway of 4-amino-4-deoxychorismate synthase.

4-Amino-4-deoxychorismate synthase (ADCS), a chorismate-utilizing enzyme, is composed of two subunits: PabA and PabB. PabA is a glutamine amidotransferase that hydrolyzes glutamine into glutamate and ammonia. PabB is an aminodeoxychorismate synthase that converts chorismate to 4-amino-4-deoxychorismate (ADC) using the ammonia produced by PabA. ADCS functions under allosteric regulation between PabA and PabB. However, the allosteric mechanism remains unresolved because the structure of the PabA-PabB complex has not been determined. Here, the crystal structure and characterization of PapA from Streptomyces venezuelae (SvPapA), a bifunctional enzyme comprising the PabA and PabB domains, is reported. SvPapA forms a unique dimer in which PabA and PabB domains from different monomers complement each other and form an active structure. The chorismate-bound structure revealed that recognition of the C1 carboxyl group by Thr501 and Gly502 of the 498-PIKTG-502 motif in the PabB domain is essential for the catalytic Lys500 to reach the C2 atom, a reaction-initiation site. SvPapA demonstrated ADCS activity in the presence of Mg2+ when glutamate or NH+4 was used as the amino donor. The crystal structure indicated that the Mg2+-binding position changed depending on the binding of chorismate. In addition, significant structural changes were observed in the PabA domain depending on the presence or absence of chorismate. This study provides insights into the structural factors that are involved in the allosteric regulation of ADCS.

Identification and Molecular Characterization of the Operon Required for L-Asparagine Utilization in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Understanding the metabolic pathways of amino acids and their regulation is important for the rational metabolic engineering of amino acid production. The catabolic pathways of L-asparagine and L-aspartate are composed of transporters for amino acid uptake and asparaginase and aspartase, which are involved in the sequential deamination to fumarate. However, knowledge of the catabolic genes for asparagine in bacteria of the Actinobacteria class has been limited. In this study, we identified and characterized the ans operon required for L-Asn catabolism in Corynebacterium glutamicum R. The operon consisted of genes encoding a transcriptional regulator (AnsR), asparaginase (AnsA2), aspartase (AspA2), and permease (AnsP). The enzymes and permease encoded in the operon were shown to be essential for L-Asn utilization, but another asparaginase, AnsA1, and aspartase, AspA1, were not essential. Expression analysis revealed that the operon was induced in response to extracellular L-Asn and was transcribed as a leaderless mRNA. The DNA-binding assay demonstrated that AnsR acted as a transcriptional repressor of the operon by binding to the inverted repeat at its 5'-end region. The AnsR binding was inhibited by L-Asn. This study provides insights into the functions and regulatory mechanisms of similar operon-like clusters in related bacteria.

History-Driven Genetic Modification Design Technique Using a Domain-Specific Lexical Model for the Acceleration of DBTL Cycles for Microbial Cell Factories.

The development of microbes for conducting bioprocessing via synthetic biology involves design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycles. To aid the designing step, we developed a computational technique that suggests next genetic modifications on the basis of relatedness to the user's design history of genetic modifications accumulated through former DBTL cycles conducted by the user. This technique, which comprehensively retrieves well-known designs related to the history, involves searching text for previous literature and then mining genes that frequently co-occur in the literature with those modified genes. We further developed a domain-specific lexical model that weights literature that is more related to the domain of metabolic engineering to emphasize genes modified for bioprocessing. Our technique made a suggestion by using a history of creating a Corynebacterium glutamicum strain producing shikimic acid that had 18 genetic modifications. Inspired by the suggestion, eight genes were considered by biologists for further modification, and modifying four of these genes proved experimentally efficient in increasing the production of shikimic acid. These results indicated that our proposed technique successfully utilized the former cycles to suggest relevant designs that biologists considered worth testing. Comprehensive retrieval of well-tested designs will help less-experienced researchers overcome the entry barrier as well as inspire experienced researchers to formulate design concepts that have been overlooked or suspended. This technique will aid DBTL cycles by feeding histories back to the next genetic design, thereby complementing the designing step.

Coexistence of the Entner-Doudoroff and Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathways enhances glucose consumption of ethanol-producing Corynebacterium glutamicum.

BACKGROUND: It is interesting to modify sugar metabolic pathways to improve the productivity of biocatalysts that convert sugars to value-added products. However, this attempt often fails due to the tight control of the sugar metabolic pathways. Recently, activation of the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway in Escherichia coli has been shown to enhance glucose consumption, though the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a functional ED pathway in metabolically engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum that metabolizes glucose via the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway to produce ethanol under oxygen deprivation. This study aims to provide further information on metabolic engineering strategies that allow the Entner-Doudoroff and Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathways to coexist. RESULTS: Three genes (zwf, edd, and eda) encoding glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase, and 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase from Zymomonas mobilis were expressed in a genetically modified strain, C. glutamicum CRZ2e, which produces pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase from Z. mobilis. A 13C-labeling experiment using [1-13C] glucose indicated a distinctive 13C distribution of ethanol between the parental and the ED-introduced strains, which suggested an alteration of carbon flux as a consequence of ED pathway introduction. The ED-introduced strain, CRZ2e-ED, consumed glucose 1.5-fold faster than the parental strain. A pfkA deletion mutant of CRZ2e-ED (CRZ2e-EDΔpfkA) was also constructed to evaluate the effects of EMP pathway inactivation, which showed an almost identical rate of glucose consumption compared to that of the parental CRZ2e strain. The introduction of the ED pathway did not alter the intracellular NADH/NAD+ ratio, whereas it resulted in a slight increase in the ATP/ADP ratio. The recombinant strains with simultaneous overexpression of the genes for the EMP and ED pathways exhibited the highest ethanol productivity among all C. glutamicum strains ever constructed. CONCLUSIONS: The increased sugar consumption observed in ED-introduced strains was not a consequence of cofactor balance alterations, but rather the crucial coexistence of two active glycolytic pathways for enhanced glucose consumption. Coexistence of the ED and EMP pathways is a good strategy for improving biocatalyst productivity even when NADPH supply is not a limiting factor for fermentation.

Protocatechuate overproduction by Corynebacterium glutamicum via simultaneous engineering of native and heterologous biosynthetic pathways.

Protocatechuic acid (3, 4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, PCA) is a natural bioactive phenolic acid potentially valuable as a pharmaceutical raw material owing to its diverse pharmacological activities. Corynebacterium glutamicum forms PCA as a key intermediate in a native pathway to assimilate shikimate/quinate through direct conversion of the shikimate pathway intermediate 3-dehydroshikimate (DHS), which is catalyzed by qsuB-encoded DHS dehydratase (the DHS pathway). PCA can also be formed via an alternate pathway extending from chorismate by introducing heterologous chorismate pyruvate lyase that converts chorismate into 4-hydroxybenzoate (4-HBA), which is then converted into PCA catalyzed by endogenous 4-HBA 3-hydroxylase (the 4-HBA pathway). In this study, we generated three plasmid-free C. glutamicum strains overproducing PCA based on the markerless chromosomal recombination by engineering each or both of the above mentioned two PCA-biosynthetic pathways combined with engineering of the host metabolism to enhance the shikimate pathway flux and to block PCA consumption. Aerobic growth-arrested cell reactions were performed using the resulting engineered strains, which revealed that strains dependent on either the DHS or 4-HBA pathway as the sole PCA-biosynthetic route produced 43.8 and 26.2 g/L of PCA from glucose with a yield of 35.3% and 10.0% (mol/mol), respectively, indicating that PCA production through the DHS pathway is significantly efficient compared to that produced through the 4-HBA pathway. Remarkably, a strain simultaneously using both DHS and 4-HBA pathways achieved the highest reported PCA productivity of 82.7 g/L with a yield of 32.8% (mol/mol) from glucose in growth-arrested cell reaction. These results indicated that simultaneous engineering of both DHS and 4-HBA pathways is an efficient method for PCA production. The generated PCA-overproducing strain is plasmid-free and does not require supplementation of aromatic amino acids and vitamins due to the intact shikimate pathway, thereby representing a promising platform for the industrial bioproduction of PCA and derived chemicals from renewable sugars.

Isobutanol production in Corynebacterium glutamicum: Suppressed succinate by-production by pckA inactivation and enhanced productivity via the Entner-Doudoroff pathway.

On the basis of our previous studies of microbial L-valine production under oxygen deprivation, we developed isobutanol-producing Corynebacterium glutamicum strains. The artificial isobutanol synthesis pathway was composed of the first three steps of the L-valine synthesis pathway; and the subsequent Ehrlich Pathway: pyruvate was converted to 2-ketoisovalerate in the former reactions; and the 2-keto acid was decarboxylated into isobutyraldehyde, and subsequently reduced into isobutanol in the latter reactions. Although there exists redox cofactor imbalance in the overall reactions, i.e., NADH is generated via glycolysis whereas NADPH is required to synthesize isobutanol, it was resolved by taking advantage of the NAD-preferring mutant acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase encoded by ilvCTM and the NAD-specific alcohol dehydrogenase encoded by adhA. Each enzyme activity to synthesize isobutanol was finely tuned by using two kinds of lac promoter derivatives. Efficient suppression of succinate by-production and improvement of isobutanol yield resulted from inactivation of pckA, which encodes phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, whereas glucose consumption and isobutanol production rates decreased because of the elevated intracellular NADH/NAD+ ratio. On the other hand, introduction of the exogenous Entner-Doudoroff pathway effectively enhanced glucose consumption and productivity. Overexpression of phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system specific to glucose and deletion of ilvE, which encodes branched-chain amino acid transaminase, further suppressed by-products and improved isobutanol productivity. Finally, the produced isobutanol concentration reached 280 mM at a yield of 84% (mol/mol glucose) in 24 h.

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for hyperproduction of polymer-grade L- and D-lactic acid.

Strain development is critical for microbial production of bio-based chemicals. The stereo-complex form of polylactic acid, a complex of poly-L- and poly-D-lactic acid, is a promising polymer candidate due to its high thermotolerance. Here, we developed Corynebacterium glutamicum strains producing high amounts of L- and D-lactic acid through intensive metabolic engineering. Chromosomal overexpression of genes encoding the glycolytic enzymes, glucokinase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, triosephosphate isomerase, and enolase, increased L- and D-lactic acid concentration by 146% and 56%, respectively. Chromosomal integration of two genes involved in the Entner-Doudoroff pathway (6-phosphogluconate dehydratase and 2-dehydro-3-deoxyphosphogluconate aldolase), together with a gene encoding glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from Zymomonas mobilis, to bypass the carbon flow from glucose, further increased L- and D-lactic acid concentration by 11% and 44%, respectively. Finally, additional chromosomal overexpression of a gene encoding NADH dehydrogenase to modulate the redox balance resulted in the production of 212 g/L L-lactic acid with a 97.9% yield and 264 g/L D-lactic acid with a 95.0% yield. The optical purity of both L- and D-lactic acid was 99.9%. Because the constructed metabolically engineered strains were devoid of plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes and were cultivated in mineral salts medium, these strains could contribute to the cost-effective production of the stereo-complex form of polylactic acid in practical scale.

Enhanced production of d-lactate from mixed sugars in Corynebacterium glutamicum by overexpression of glycolytic genes encoding phosphofructokinase and triosephosphate isomerase.

The use of mixed sugars containing glucose and xylose in lignocellulosic biomass is desirable for the microbial production of chemicals and fuels. We investigated the effect of individual or simultaneous overexpression of glycolytic genes on d-lactate production from a mixture of glucose and xylose by a recombinant xylose-assimilating Corynebacterium glutamicum strain. The individual overexpression of genes encoding phosphofructokinase (PFK) and triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) increased d-lactate production rate by 71% and 34%, respectively, with corresponding increases (2.4- and 1.8-fold) in the glucose consumption; however, the amount of xylose consumed not altered. d-Lactate yield was also increased by 5.5%, but only in the strain overexpressing the gene encoding PFK. In the parent strain and the strains overexpressing the genes encoding PFK or TPI, a reduction in d-lactate production occurred at approximately 900 mM after 32 h. However, the strain that simultaneously overexpressed the genes encoding PFK and TPI continued to produce d-lactate after 32 h, with the eventual production of 1326 mM after production for 80 h in mineral salts medium. Our findings contribute to the cost-effective, large-scale production of d-lactate from mixed sugars.

Production of 4-Hydroxybenzoic Acid by an Aerobic Growth-Arrested Bioprocess Using Metabolically Engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Corynebacterium glutamicum was metabolically engineered to produce 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA), a valuable aromatic compound used as a raw material for the production of liquid crystal polymers and paraben. C. glutamicum was found to have a higher tolerance to 4-HBA toxicity than previously reported hosts used for the production of genetically engineered 4-HBA. To obtain higher titers of 4-HBA, we employed a stepwise overexpression of all seven target genes in the shikimate pathway in C. glutamicum Specifically, multiple chromosomal integrations of a mutated aroG gene from Escherichia coli, encoding a 3-deoxy-d-arabinoheptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (DAHP) synthase, and wild-type aroCKB from C. glutamicum, encoding chorismate synthase, shikimate kinase, and 3-dehydroquinate synthase, were effective in increasing product titers. The last step of the 4-HBA biosynthesis pathway was recreated in C. glutamicum by expressing a highly 4-HBA-resistant chorismate pyruvate-lyase (UbiC) from the intestinal bacterium Providencia rustigianii To enhance the yield of 4-HBA, we reduced the formation of by-products, such as 1,3-dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate, by deleting hdpA, a gene coding for a haloacid dehalogenase superfamily phosphatase, and pyk, a gene coding for a pyruvate kinase, from the bacterial chromosome. The maximum concentration of 4-HBA produced by the resultant strain was 36.6 g/liter, with a yield of 41% (mol/mol) glucose after incubation for 24 h in minimal medium in an aerobic growth-arrested bioprocess using a jar fermentor. To our knowledge, this is the highest concentration of 4-HBA produced by a metabolically engineered microorganism ever reported.IMPORTANCE Since aromatic compound 4-HBA has been chemically produced from petroleum-derived phenol for a long time, eco-friendly bioproduction of 4-HBA from biomass resources is desired in order to address environmental issues. In microbial chemical production, product toxicity often causes problems, but we confirmed that wild-type C. glutamicum has high tolerance to the target 4-HBA. A growth-arrested bioprocess using this microorganism has been successfully used for the production of various compounds, such as biofuels, organic acids, and amino acids. However, no production method has been applied for aromatic compounds to date. In this study, we screened for a novel final reaction enzyme possessing characteristics superior to those in previously employed microbial 4-HBA production. We demonstrated that the use of the highly 4-HBA-resistant UbiC from the intestinal bacterium P. rustigianii is very effective in increasing 4-HBA production.

Enhanced Glucose Consumption and Organic Acid Production by Engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum Based on Analysis of a pfkB1 Deletion Mutant.

In the analysis of a carbohydrate metabolite pathway, we found interesting phenotypes in a mutant strain of Corynebacterium glutamicum deficient in pfkB1, which encodes fructose-1-phosphate kinase. After being aerobically cultivated with fructose as a carbon source, this mutant consumed glucose and produced organic acid, predominantly l-lactate, at a level more than 2-fold higher than that of the wild-type grown with glucose under conditions of oxygen deprivation. This considerably higher fermentation capacity was unique for the combination of pfkB1 deletion and cultivation with fructose. In the metabolome and transcriptome analyses of this strain, marked intracellular accumulation of fructose-1-phosphate and significant upregulation of several genes related to the phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system, glycolysis, and organic acid synthesis were identified. We then examined strains overexpressing several of the identified genes and demonstrated enhanced glucose consumption and organic acid production by these engineered strains, whose values were found to be comparable to those of the model pfkB1 deletion mutant grown with fructose. l-Lactate production by the ppc deletion mutant of the engineered strain was 2,390 mM (i.e., 215 g/liter) after 48 h under oxygen deprivation, which was a 2.7-fold increase over that of the wild-type strain with a deletion of ppc IMPORTANCE: Enhancement of glycolytic flux is important for improving microbiological production of chemicals, but overexpression of glycolytic enzymes has often resulted in little positive effect. That is presumably because the central carbon metabolism is under the complex and strict regulation not only transcriptionally but also posttranscriptionally, for example, by the ATP/ADP ratio. In contrast, we studied a mutant strain of Corynebacterium glutamicum that showed markedly enhanced glucose consumption and organic acid production and, based on the findings, identified several genes whose overexpression was effective in enhancing glycolytic flux under conditions of oxygen deprivation. These results will further understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of glycolytic flux and can be widely applied to the improvement of the microbial production of useful chemicals.

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for shikimate overproduction by growth-arrested cell reaction.

Corynebacterium glutamicum with the ability to simultaneously utilize glucose/pentose mixed sugars was metabolically engineered to overproduce shikimate, a valuable hydroaromatic compound used as a starting material for the synthesis of the anti-influenza drug oseltamivir. To achieve this, the shikimate kinase and other potential metabolic activities for the consumption of shikimate and its precursor dehydroshikimate were inactivated. Carbon flux toward shikimate synthesis was enhanced by overexpression of genes for the shikimate pathway and the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway. Subsequently, to improve the availability of the key aromatics precursor phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) toward shikimate synthesis, the PEP: sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) was inactivated and an endogenous myo-inositol transporter IolT1 and glucokinases were overexpressed. Unexpectedly, the resultant non-PTS strain accumulated 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and glycerol as major byproducts. This observation and metabolome analysis identified glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH)-catalyzed reaction as a limiting step in glycolysis. Consistently, overexpression of GAPDH significantly stimulated both glucose consumption and shikimate production. Blockage of the DHA synthesis further improved shikimate yield. We applied an aerobic, growth-arrested and high-density cell reaction to the shikimate production by the resulting strain and notably achieved the highest shikimate titer (141g/l) and a yield (51% (mol/mol)) from glucose reported to date after 48h in minimal medium lacking nutrients required for cell growth. Moreover, comparable shikimate productivity could be attained through simultaneous utilization of glucose, xylose, and arabinose, enabling efficient shikimate production from lignocellulosic feedstocks. These findings demonstrate that C. glutamicum has significant potential for the production of shikimate and derived aromatic compounds.

Production of para-aminobenzoate by genetically engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum and non-biological formation of an N-glucosyl byproduct.

para-Aminobenzoate (PABA), a valuable chemical raw material, can be synthesized by most microorganisms. This aromatic compound is currently manufactured from petroleum-derived materials by chemical synthesis. To produce PABA from renewable resources, its production by fermentation was investigated. The evaluation of the sensitivity to PABA toxicity revealed that Corynebacterium glutamicum had better tolerance to PABA than several other microorganisms. To produce PABA from glucose, genetically engineered C. glutamicum was constructed by introducing both pabAB and pabC. The generated strain produced 20mM of PABA in a test-tube scale culture; however, during the investigation, an unidentified major byproduct was detected in the culture supernatant. Unexpectedly, the byproduct was also detected after the incubation of PABA with glucose in a buffer solution without bacterial cells. To elucidate the mechanism underlying the formation of this byproduct, PABA analogues and several kinds of sugars were mixed and analyzed. New chemical compounds were detected when incubating aniline with glucose as well as PABA with reducing sugars (mannose, xylose, or arabinose), indicating that an amino group of PABA reacted non-enzymatically with an aldehyde group of glucose. The molecular mass of the byproduct determined by LC-MS suggested that the molecule was generated from PABA and glucose with releasing a water molecule, generally known as a glycation product. Because the glycation reaction was reversible, the byproduct was easily converted to PABA by acid treatment (around pH 2-3) with HCl. Then, pab genes were screened to improve PABA production. The highest PABA concentration was achieved by a strain expressing the pabAB of Corynebacterium callunae and a strain expressing the pabC of Xenorhabdus bovienii, respectively. A plasmid harboring both the pabAB of C. callunae and the pabC of X. bovienii, the best gene combination, was introduced into a strain overexpressing the genes of the shikimate pathway. The resultant strain produced 45mM of PABA in a test-tube scale culture. Under a fermenter-controlled condition, the strain produced up to 314mM (43g/L) of PABA at 48h, with a 20% yield. To our knowledge, this is the highest concentration of PABA produced by a genetically modified microorganism ever reported.

Functional Characterization of Corynebacterium alkanolyticum ß-Xylosidase and Xyloside ABC Transporter in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

The Corynebacterium alkanolyticum xylEFGD gene cluster comprises the xylD gene that encodes an intracellular ß-xylosidase next to the xylEFG operon encoding a substrate-binding protein and two membrane permease proteins of a xyloside ABC transporter. Cloning of the cluster revealed a recombinant ß-xylosidase of moderately high activity (turnover for p-nitrophenyl-ß-d-xylopyranoside of 111 ± 4 s(-1)), weak α-l-arabinofuranosidase activity (turnover for p-nitrophenyl-α-l-arabinofuranoside of 5 ± 1 s(-1)), and high tolerance to product inhibition (Ki for xylose of 67.6 ± 2.6 mM). Heterologous expression of the entire cluster under the control of the strong constitutive tac promoter in the Corynebacterium glutamicum xylose-fermenting strain X1 enabled the resultant strain X1EFGD to rapidly utilize not only xylooligosaccharides but also arabino-xylooligosaccharides. The ability to utilize arabino-xylooligosaccharides depended on cgR_2369, a gene encoding a multitask ATP-binding protein. Heterologous expression of the contiguous xylD gene in strain X1 led to strain X1D with 10-fold greater ß-xylosidase activity than strain X1EFGD, albeit with a total loss of arabino-xylooligosaccharide utilization ability and only half the ability to utilize xylooligosaccharides. The findings suggest some inherent ability of C. glutamicum to take up xylooligosaccharides, an ability that is enhanced by in the presence of a functional xylEFG-encoded xyloside ABC transporter. The finding that xylEFG imparts nonnative ability to take up arabino-xylooligosaccharides should be useful in constructing industrial strains with efficient fermentation of arabinoxylan, a major component of lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates.

Glucose consumption rate critically depends on redox state in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen deprivation.

Rapid sugar consumption is important for the microbial production of chemicals and fuels. Here, we show that overexpression of the NADH dehydrogenase gene (ndh) increased glucose consumption rate in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen-deprived conditions through investigating the relationship between the glucose consumption rate and intracellular NADH/NAD(+) ratio in various mutant strains. The NADH/NAD(+) ratio was strongly repressed under oxygen deprivation when glucose consumption was accelerated by the addition of pyruvate or sodium hydrogen carbonate. Overexpression of the ndh gene in the wild-type strain under oxygen deprivation decreased the NADH/NAD(+) ratio from 0.32 to 0.13, whereas the glucose consumption rate increased by 27%. Similarly, in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase gene (ppc)- or malate dehydrogenase gene (mdh)-deficient strains, overexpression of the ndh gene decreased the NADH/NAD(+) ratio from 1.66 to 0.37 and 2.20 to 0.57, respectively, whereas the glucose consumption rate increased by 57 and 330%, respectively. However, in a lactate dehydrogenase gene (L-ldhA)-deficient strain, although the NADH/NAD(+) ratio decreased from 5.62 to 1.13, the glucose consumption rate was not markedly altered. In a tailored D-lactate-producing strain, which lacked ppc and L-ldhA genes, but expressed D-ldhA from Lactobacillus delbrueckii, overexpression of the ndh gene decreased the NADH/NAD(+) ratio from 1.77 to 0.56, and increased the glucose consumption rate by 50%. Overall, the glucose consumption rate was found to be inversely proportional to the NADH/NAD(+) ratio in C. glutamicum cultured under oxygen deprivation. These findings could provide an option to increase the productivity of chemicals and fuels under oxygen deprivation.

Overexpression of the phosphofructokinase encoding gene is crucial for achieving high production of D-lactate in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen deprivation.

We previously reported on the impacts of the overexpression of individual genes of the glycolytic pathway encoding glucokinase (GLK), glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), phosphofructokinase (PFK), triosephosphate isomerase (TPI), and bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) on D-lactate productivity in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen-deprived conditions. Searching for synergies, in the current study, we simultaneously overexpressed the five glycolytic genes in a stepwise fashion to evaluate the effect of the cumulative overexpression of glycolytic genes on D-lactate production. Interestingly, the final D-lactate concentration markedly differed depending on whether or not the PFK encoding gene was overexpressed when combined with overexpressing other glycolytic genes. The simultaneous overexpression of the GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA encoding genes led to the highest initial D-lactate concentration at 10 h. However, this particular recombinant strain dramatically slowed producing D-lactate when a concentration of 1300 mM was reached, typically after 32 h. In contrast, the strain overexpressing the PFK encoding gene together with the GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA encoding genes showed 12.7 % lower initial D-lactate concentration at 10 h than that observed with the strain overexpressing the genes coding for GLK, GAPDH, TPI, and FBA. However, this recombinant strain continued to produce D-lactate after 32 h, reaching 2169 mM after a mineral salts medium bioprocess incubation period of 80 h. These results suggest that overexpression of the PFK encoding gene is essential for achieving high production of D-lactate. Our findings provide interesting options to explore for using C. glutamicum for cost-efficient production of D-lactate at the industrial scale.

Thermal and solvent stress cross-tolerance conferred to Corynebacterium glutamicum by adaptive laboratory evolution.

Reinforcing microbial thermotolerance is a strategy to enable fermentation with flexible temperature settings and thereby to save cooling costs. Here, we report on adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) of the amino acid-producing bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum under thermal stress. After 65 days of serial passage of the transgenic strain GLY3, in which the glycolytic pathway is optimized for alanine production under oxygen deprivation, three strains adapted to supraoptimal temperatures were isolated, and all the mutations they acquired were identified by whole-genome resequencing. Of the 21 mutations common to the three strains, one large deletion and two missense mutations were found to promote growth of the parental strain under thermal stress. Additive effects on thermotolerance were observed among these mutations, and the combination of the deletion with the missense mutation on otsA, encoding a trehalose-6-phosphate synthase, allowed the parental strain to overcome the upper limit of growth temperature. Surprisingly, the three evolved strains acquired cross-tolerance for isobutanol, which turned out to be partly attributable to the genomic deletion associated with the enhanced thermotolerance. The deletion involved loss of two transgenes, pfk and pyk, encoding the glycolytic enzymes, in addition to six native genes, and elimination of the transgenes, but not the native genes, was shown to account for the positive effects on thermal and solvent stress tolerance, implying a link between energy-producing metabolism and bacterial stress tolerance. Overall, the present study provides evidence that ALE can be a powerful tool to refine the phenotype of C. glutamicum and to investigate the molecular bases of stress tolerance.

Metabolic engineering for improved production of ethanol by Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum harboring genes for pyruvate decarboxylase (pdc) and alcohol dehydrogenase (adhB) can produce ethanol under oxygen deprivation. We investigated the effects of elevating the expression levels of glycolytic genes, as well as pdc and adhB, on ethanol production. Overexpression of four glycolytic genes (pgi, pfkA, gapA, and pyk) in C. glutamicum significantly increased the rate of ethanol production. Overexpression of tpi, encoding triosephosphate isomerase, further enhanced productivity. Elevated expression of pdc and adhB increased ethanol yield, but not the rate of production. Fed-batch fermentation using an optimized strain resulted in ethanol production of 119 g/L from 245 g/L glucose with a yield of 95% of the theoretical maximum. Further metabolic engineering, including integration of the genes for xylose and arabinose metabolism, enabled consumption of glucose, xylose, and arabinose, and ethanol production (83 g/L) at a yield of 90 %. This study demonstrated that C. glutamicum has significant potential for the production of cellulosic ethanol.

Promiscuous activity of (S,S)-butanediol dehydrogenase is responsible for glycerol production from 1,3-dihydroxyacetone in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen-deprived conditions.

Corynebacterium glutamicum can consume glucose to excrete glycerol under oxygen deprivation. Although glycerol synthesis from 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) has been speculated, no direct evidence has yet been provided in C. glutamicum. Enzymatic and genetic investigations here indicate that the glycerol is largely produced from DHA and, unexpectedly, the reaction is catalyzed by (S,S)-butanediol dehydrogenase (ButA) that inherently catalyzes the interconversion between S-acetoin and (S,S)-2,3-butanediol. Consequently, the following pathway for glycerol biosynthesis in the bacterium emerges: dihydroxyacetone phosphate is dephosphorylated by HdpA to DHA, which is subsequently reduced to glycerol by ButA. This study emphasizes the importance of promiscuous activity of the enzyme in vivo.

Strain optimization for efficient isobutanol production using Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen deprivation.

Microbial production of isobutanol is made difficult by the chemical's high cell toxicity. Corynebacterium glutamicum, inherently one of the more isobutanol-tolerant industrial microorganisms, exhibits unprecedented productivity under oxygen deprivation, potentially allowing for high productivity of such toxic chemicals as isobutanol. Here, we show that development of C. glutamicum strains proficient in isobutanol production depends not only on modulating the activity of 2-keto acid decarboxylase (KDC) and isobutanol dehydrogenase (IBDH) and suppressing by-product formation, but also on optimizing the production process to eschew product inhibition. Isobutanol production under oxygen deprivation reached 343 mM (3.2% v/v) in strain IBU5 expressing kivd (encoding KDC) under the control of ldhA promoter and adhP (encoding IBDH from Escherichia coli MG1655) under the control of gapA promoter. This productivity is double the previously reported best productivity of 1.6% (v/v) and exceeds the 2.5% (v/v) limit beyond which cell growth becomes too severely suppressed. Irrespective, a cumulative 56.5% improvement on yield was possible with the combined effects of disruption of the ppc gene, encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), use of a NAD⁺-specific mutant acetohydroxyacid isomeroreductase (AHAIR), and overexpression of select glycolytic genes. Using oleyl alcohol to continuously extract the isobutanol from reaction mixture and tripling the cell concentration in the reaction mixture to 60 g dry cell/L stretched the yield to 78.1% and volumetric productivity to 981 mM (9.1% v/v).

Identification of a gene involved in plasmid structural instability in Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Expression plasmids that facilitate production of bio-based products are susceptible to toxic effects that frequently affect plasmid structural stability in recombinant microbial cells. In order to enhance plasmid stability in recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum, an expression plasmid containing genes of the Clostridium acetobutylicum butyryl-CoA synthesis operon with high structural instability within wild-type C. glutamicum was employed. From a total of 133 mutants exhibiting disruptions in 265 suspect genes, only cgR_0322-deficient mutant was able to maintain the expression plasmid intact. The mutant exhibited normal growth under standard laboratory conditions but its transformation efficiency was about one order of magnitude lower than that of wild-type strain. The cgR_0322 gene encodes an endonuclease that is active against single- as well as double-stranded DNA substrates in the presence of Mg(2+). The cgR_0322-deficient strain should therefore facilitate the development of more robust C. glutamicum strains to be used as microbial production hosts.