Process control for enhanced L-phenylalanine production using different recombinant Escherichia coli strains

In silico functional annotation of hypothetical proteins from the Bacillus paralicheniformis strain Bac84 reveals proteins with biotechnological potentials and adaptational functions to extreme environments

Members of the Bacillus genus are industrial cell factories due to their capacity to secrete significant quantities of biomolecules with industrial applications. The Bacillus paralicheniformis strain Bac84 was isolated from the Red Sea and it shares a close evolutionary relationship with Bacillus licheniformis. However, a significant number of proteins in its genome are annotated as functionally uncharacterized hypothetical proteins. Investigating these proteins' functions may help us better understand how bacteria survive extreme environmental conditions and to find novel targets for biotechnological applications. Therefore, the purpose of our research was to functionally annotate the hypothetical proteins from the genome of B. paralicheniformis strain Bac84. We employed a structured in-silico approach incorporating numerous bioinformatics tools and databases for functional annotation, physicochemical characterization, subcellular localization, protein-protein interactions, and three-dimensional structure determination. Sequences of 414 hypothetical proteins were evaluated and we were able to successfully attribute a function to 37 hypothetical proteins. Moreover, we performed receiver operating characteristic analysis to assess the performance of various tools used in this present study. We identified 12 proteins having significant adaptational roles to unfavorable environments such as sporulation, formation of biofilm, motility, regulation of transcription, etc. Additionally, 8 proteins were predicted with biotechnological potentials such as coenzyme A biosynthesis, phenylalanine biosynthesis, rare-sugars biosynthesis, antibiotic biosynthesis, bioremediation, and others. Evaluation of the performance of the tools showed an accuracy of 98% which represented the rationality of the tools used. This work shows that this annotation strategy will make the functional characterization of unknown proteins easier and can find the target for further investigation. The knowledge of these hypothetical proteins' potential functions aids B. paralicheniformis strain Bac84 in effectively creating a new biotechnological target. In addition, the results may also facilitate a better understanding of the survival mechanisms in harsh environmental conditions.

Phenylalanine roles in the seed-to-seedling stage: Not just an amino acid

Phenylalanine is an aromatic amino acid that provides the carbon skeleton for the phenylpropanoid pathway, making many diverse chemicals used for structure, defense, and yet undiscovered functions. The identification of the arogenate dehydratase (ADT) enzymes in the genetic model Arabidopsis thaliana provided a platform to explore the roles of phenylalanine in all stages of life: germination, in the seed-to-seedling transition stage, organelle function, and in generation of defense mechanisms, enabling further studies in other plants. From the literature, data indicate that phenylalanine produced by ADT may have direct roles in organellar and tissue development. Recent studies implicate ADTs in cell division and protection from Reactive Oxygen Species, and in signaling and growth. Research in phenylalanine and subsequent phenylpropanoids also point to a role of phenylalanine as a purveyor of C and N nutrients. The understanding of phenylalanine action in plant cells is enhanced by recent research on phenylalanine in animal cells.

Metabolic engineering for the production of l-phenylalanine in Escherichia coli

As one of the three proteinogenic aromatic amino acids, l-phenylalanine is widely applied in the food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, especially in production of the low-calorie sweetener aspartame. Microbial production of l-phenylalanine has become attractive as it possesses the advantages of environmental friendliness, low cost, and feedstock renewability. With the progress of metabolic engineering, systems biology and synthetic biology, production of l-phenylalanine from glucose in Escherichia coli with relatively high titer has been achieved by improving the intracellular levels of precursors, alleviating transcriptional repression and feedback inhibition of key enzymes, increasing the export of l-phenylalanine, engineering of global regulators, and overexpression of rate-limiting enzymes. In this review, successful metabolic engineering strategies for increasing l-phenylalanine accumulation from glucose in E. coli are described. In addition, perspectives for further improvement of production of l-phenylalanine are discussed.

Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia coli for Production of 2-Phenylethanol and 2-Phenylethyl Acetate from Glucose

Rose-like odor 2-phenylethanol (2-PE) and its more fruit-like ester 2-phenylethyl acetate (2-PEAc) are two important aromatic compounds and have wide applications. In the past, 2-PE and 2-PEAc were mainly produced from l-phenylalanine. In this study, Escherichia coli was engineered to de novo biosynthesis of 2-PE and 2-PEAc from glucose: first, overexpression of deregulated 3-deoxy-d-arabinoheptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase aroG ^fbr and chorismate mutase/prephenate dehydratase pheA ^fbr for increasing phenylpyruvate production in E. coli, subsequently, heterologous expression of decarboxylase kdc and overexpression of reductase yjgB for the conversion of phenylpyruvate to 2-PE, with the engineered strain DG01 producing 578 mg/L 2-PE, and, finally, heterologous expression of an aminotransferase aro8 to redirect the metabolic flux to phenylpyruvate. 2-PE (1016 mg/L) was accumulated in the engineered strain DG02. Alcohol acetyltransferase ATF1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae can esterify a wide variety of alcohols, including 2-PE. We have further demonstrated the biosynthesis of 2-PEAc from glucose by overexpressing atf1 for the subsequent conversion of 2-PE to 2-PEAc. The engineered strain DG03 produced 687 mg/L 2-PEAc.

A systematic optimization of styrene biosynthesis in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)

BACKGROUND

Styrene is a versatile commodity petrochemical used as a monomer building-block for the synthesis of many useful polymers. Although achievements have been made on styrene biosynthesis in microorganisms, several bottleneck problems limit factors for further improvement in styrene production.

RESULTS

A two-step styrene biosynthesis pathway was developed and introduced into Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). Systematic optimization of styrene biosynthesis, such as enzyme screening, codon and plasmid optimization, metabolic flow balance, and in situ fermentation was performed. Candidate isoenzymes of the rate-limiting enzyme phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) were screened from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtPAL2), Fagopyrum tataricum (FtPAL), Petroselinum crispum (PcPAL), and Artemisia annua (AaPAL). After codon optimization, AtPAL2 was found to be the most effective one, and the engineered strain was able to produce 55 mg/L styrene. Subsequently, plasmid optimization was performed, which improved styrene production to 103 mg/L. In addition, two upstream shikimate pathway genes, aroF and pheA, were overexpressed in the engineered strain, which resulted in styrene production of 210 mg/L. Subsequently, combined overexpression of tktA and ppsA increased styrene production to 275 mg/L. Finally, in situ product removal was used to ease the burden of end-product toxicity. By using isopropyl myristate as a solvent, styrene production reached a final titer of 350 mg/L after 48 h of shake-flask fermentation, representing a 636% improvement, which compared with that achieved in the original strain.

CONCLUSIONS

This present study achieved the highest titer of de novo production of styrene in E. coli at shake-flask fermentation level. These results obtained provided new insights for the development of microbial production of styrene in a sustainable and environment friendly manner.

Unconventional Treatments for Vitiligo: Are They (Un) Satisfactory?

The authors show a brief overview of the vitiligo’s unconventional therapies. A part for well-documented effectiveness of L-phenylalanine, PGE2 and antioxidant agents in the treatment of vitiligo, for the other therapeutical approaches more investigations are needed.

Improving the Production of L-Phenylalanine by Identifying Key Enzymes Through Multi-Enzyme Reaction System in Vitro

L-Phenylalanine (L-Phe) is an important amino acid used in both food and medicinal applications. We developed an in vitro system that allowed a direct, quantitative investigation of phenylalanine biosynthesis in E. coli. Here, the absolute concentrations of six enzymes (AroK, AroL, AroA, AroC, PheA and TyrB) involved in the shikimate (SHIK) pathway were determined by a quantitative proteomics approach and in vitro enzyme titration experiments. The reconstitution of an in vitro reaction system for these six enzymes was established and their effects on the phenylalanine production were tested. The results showed that the yield of phenylalanine increased 3.0 and 2.1 times when the concentrations of shikimate kinase (AroL) and 5-enolpyruvoyl shikimate 3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase (AroA) were increased 2.5 times. Consistent results were obtained from in vivo via the overexpression of AroA in a phenylalanine-producing strain, and the titer of phenylalanine reached 62.47 g/l after 48 h cultivation in a 5-liter jar fermentor. Our quantitative findings provide a practical method to detect the potential bottleneck in a specific metabolic pathway to determine which gene products should be targeted to improve the yield of the desired product.

Screening of an Escherichia coli promoter library for a phenylalanine biosensor

In recent years, the application of transcription factor-based biosensors for the engineering of microbial production strains opened up new opportunities for industrial biotechnology. However, the design of synthetic regulatory circuits depends on the selection of suitable transcription factor-promoter pairs to convert the concentration of effector molecules into a measureable output. Here, we present an efficient strategy to screen promoter libraries for appropriate parts for biosensor design. To this end, we pooled the strains of the Alon library containing about 2000 different Escherichia coli promoter-gfpmut2 fusions, and enriched galactose- and L-phenylalanine-responsive promoters by toggled rounds of positive and negative selection using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). For both effectors, responsive promoters were isolated and verified by cultivation in microtiter plates. The promoter of mtr, encoding an L-tryptophan-specific transporter, was identified as suitable part for the construction of an L-phenylalanine biosensor. In the following, we performed a comparative analysis of different biosensor constructs based on the mtr promoter. The obtained data revealed a strong influence of the biosensor architecture on the performance characteristics. For proof-of-principle, the mtr sensor was applied in a FACS high-throughput screening of an E. coli MG1655 mutant library for the isolation of L-phenylalanine producers. These results emphasize the developed screening approach as a convenient strategy for the identification of effector-responsive promoters for the design of novel biosensors.

Bacterial fermentation platform for producing artificial aromatic amines

Aromatic amines containing an aminobenzene or an aniline moiety comprise versatile natural and artificial compounds including bioactive molecules and resources for advanced materials. However, a bio-production platform has not been implemented. Here we constructed a bacterial platform for para-substituted aminobenzene relatives of aromatic amines via enzymes in an alternate shikimate pathway predicted in a Pseudomonad bacterium. Optimization of the metabolic pathway in Escherichia coli cells converted biomass glucose to 4-aminophenylalanine with high efficiency (4.4 g L⁻¹ in fed-batch cultivation). We designed and produced artificial pathways that mimicked the fungal Ehrlich pathway in E. coli and converted 4-aminophenylalanine into 4-aminophenylethanol and 4-aminophenylacetate at 90% molar yields. Combining these conversion systems or fungal phenylalanine decarboxylases, the 4-aminophenylalanine-producing platform fermented glucose to 4-aminophenylethanol, 4-aminophenylacetate, and 4-phenylethylamine. This original bacterial platform for producing artificial aromatic amines highlights their potential as heteroatoms containing bio-based materials that can replace those derived from petroleum.

Control of specific carbon dioxide production in a fed-batch culture producing recombinant protein using a soft sensor

The feeding of a fed-batch cultivation producing recombinant protein was controlled by a soft sensor set-up. It was assumed that the control approach could be based on the cell's production of carbon dioxide and that this parameter indicates the metabolic state occurring at induced protein expression. The soft sensor used the on-line signals from a carbon dioxide analyser and a near-infrared (NIR) probe for biomass to estimate the specific production rate qCO2. Control experiments were carried out with various qCO2 set-points where we observe that the feeding of nutrients to the culture could easily be controlled and resulted in a decreased variability compared to uncontrolled cultivations. We therefore suggest that this control approach could serve as an alternative to other commonly applied methods such as controlling the cell's overflow metabolism of acetate or the cell's specific growth rate. However, further studies of the internal metabolic fluxes of CO2 during protein expression would be recommended for a more precise characterization of the relationship between qCO2 and protein expression in order to fully interpret the control behaviour.

Perturbation Experiments: Approaches for Metabolic Pathway Analysis in Bioreactors

In the last decades, targeted metabolic engineering of microbial cells has become one of the major tools in bioprocess design and optimization. For successful application, a detailed knowledge is necessary about the relevant metabolic pathways and their regulation inside the cells. Since in vitro experiments cannot display process conditions and behavior properly, process data about the cells' metabolic state have to be collected in vivo. For this purpose, special techniques and methods are necessary. Therefore, most techniques enabling in vivo characterization of metabolic pathways rely on perturbation experiments, which can be divided into dynamic and steady-state approaches. To avoid any process disturbance, approaches which enable perturbation of cell metabolism in parallel to the continuing production process are reasonable. Furthermore, the fast dynamics of microbial production processes amplifies the need of parallelized data generation. These points motivate the development of a parallelized approach for multiple metabolic perturbation experiments outside the operating production reactor. An appropriate approach for in vivo characterization of metabolic pathways is presented and applied exemplarily to a microbial L-phenylalanine production process on a 15 L-scale.

Improvement of L-phenylalanine production from glycerol by recombinant Escherichia coli strains: the role of extra copies of glpK, glpX, and tktA genes

Background

For the production of L-phenylalanine (L-Phe), two molecules of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and one molecule erythrose-4-phosphate (E4P) are necessary. PEP stems from glycolysis whereas E4P is formed in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Glucose, commonly used for L-Phe production with recombinant E. coli, is taken up via the PEP-dependent phosphotransferase system which delivers glucose-6-phosphate (G6P). G6P enters either glycolysis or the PPP. In contrast, glycerol is phosphorylated by an ATP-dependent glycerol kinase (GlpK) thus saving one PEP. However, two gluconeogenic reactions (fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, FBPase) are necessary for growth and provision of E4P. Glycerol has become an important carbon source for biotechnology and reports on production of L-Phe from glycerol are available. However, the influence of FBPase and transketolase reactions on L-Phe production has not been reported.

Results

L-Phe productivity of parent strain FUS4/pF81 (plasmid-encoded genes for aroF, aroB, aroL, pheA) was compared on glucose and glycerol as C sources. On glucose, a maximal carbon recovery of 0.19 mM C_Phe/C_Glucose and a maximal space-time-yield (STY) of 0.13 g l⁻¹ h⁻¹ was found. With glycerol, the maximal carbon recovery was nearly the same (0.18 mM C_Phe/C_Glycerol), but the maximal STY was higher (0.21 g l⁻¹ h⁻¹). We raised the chromosomal gene copy number of the genes glpK (encoding glycerol kinase), tktA (encoding transketolase), and glpX (encoding fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase) individually. Overexpression of glpK (or its feedback-resistant variant, glpK^G232D) had little effect on growth rate; L-Phe production was about 30% lower than in FUS4/pF81. Whereas the overexpression of either glpX or tktA had minor effects on productivity (0.20 mM C_Phe/C_Glycerol; 0.25 g l⁻¹ h⁻¹ and 0.21 mM C_Phe/C_Glycerol; 0.23 g l⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively), the combination of extra genes of glpX and tktA together led to an increase in maximal STY of about 80% (0.37 g l⁻¹ h⁻¹) and a carbon recovery of 0.26 mM C_Phe/C_Glycerol.

Conclusions

Enhancing the gene copy numbers for glpX and tktA increased L-Phe productivity from glycerol without affecting growth rate. Engineering of glycerol metabolism towards L-Phe production in E. coli has to balance the pathways of gluconeogenesis, glycolysis, and PPP to improve the supply of the precursors, PEP and E4P.

Improvement of constraint-based flux estimation during L-phenylalanine production with Escherichia coli using targeted knock-out mutants

Fed-batch production of the aromatic amino acid L-phenylalanine was studied with recombinant Escherichia coli strains on a 15 L-scale using glycerol as carbon source. Flux Variability Analysis (FVA) was applied for intracellular flux estimation to obtain an insight into intracellular flux distribution during L-phenylalanine production. Variability analysis revealed great flux uncertainties in the central carbon metabolism, especially concerning malate consumption. Due to these results two recombinant strains were genetically engineered differing in the ability of malate degradation and anaplerotic reactions (E. coli FUS4.11 ΔmaeA pF81kan and E. coli FUS4.11 ΔmaeA ΔmaeB pF81kan). Applying these malic enzyme knock-out mutants in the standardized L-phenylalanine production process resulted in almost identical process performances (e.g., L-phenylalanine concentration, production rate and byproduct formation). This clearly highlighted great redundancies in central metabolism in E. coli. Uncertainties of intracellular flux estimations by constraint-based analyses during fed-batch production of L-phenylalanine were drastically reduced by application of the malic enzyme knock-out mutants.

Rational design of Escherichia coli for L-isoleucine production

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli was performed to construct a 100% rationally engineered strain capable of overproducing L-isoleucine, an important branched-chain amino acid. The thrABC (encoding L-threonine biosynthetic enzymes), ilvA (encoding feedback-resistant threonine dehydratase), ilvIH (encoding feedback-resistant acetohydroxy acid synthase III), and ygaZH (encoding branched-chain amino acid exporter) genes were amplified by plasmid-based overexpression. The ilvCED (encoding L-isoleucine biosynthetic enzymes) and lrp (encoding global regulator Lrp) genes were also amplified by chromosomal promoter replacement in order to further increase the flux toward L-isoleucine. The final engineered E. coli strain was able to produce 9.46 g/L of L-isoleucine with a yield of 0.14 g/g of glucose by fed-batch culture. The overall design principles described here for the production of highly regulated product should be useful in designing strains for the production of other similar bioproducts.

Amino acid uptake profiling of wild type and recombinant Streptomyces lividans TK24 batch fermentations

Streptomyces lividans is considered an interesting host for the secretory production of heterologous proteins. To obtain a good secretion yield of heterologous proteins, the availability of suitable nitrogen sources in the medium is required. Often, undefined mixtures of amino acids are used to improve protein yields. However, the understanding of amino acid utilization as well as their contribution to the heterologous protein synthesis is poor. In this paper, amino acid utilization by wild type and recombinant S. lividans TK24 growing on a minimal medium supplemented with casamino acids is profiled by intensive analysis of the exometabolome (metabolic footprint) as a function of time. Dynamics of biomass, substrates, by-products and heterologous protein are characterized, analyzed and compared. As an exemplary protein mouse Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (mTNF-α) is considered. Results unveil preferential glutamate and aspartate assimilation, together with glucose and ammonium, but the associated high biomass growth rate is unfavorable for protein production. Excretion of organic acids as well as alanine is observed. Pyruvate and alanine overflow point at an imbalance between carbon and nitrogen catabolism and biosynthetic fluxes. Lactate secretion is probably related to clump formation. Heterologous protein production induces a slowdown in growth, denser clump formation and a shift in metabolism, as reflected in the altered substrate requirements and overflow pattern. Besides glutamate and aspartate, most amino acids are catabolized, however, their exact contribution in heterologous protein production could not be seized from macroscopic quantities. The metabolic footprints presented in this paper provide a first insight into the impact and relevance of amino acids on biomass growth and protein production. Type and availability of substrates together with biomass growth rate and morphology affect the protein secretion efficiency and should be optimally controlled, e.g., by appropriate medium formulation and substrate dosing. Overflow metabolism as well as high biomass growth rates must be avoided because they reduce protein yields. Further investigation of the intracellular metabolic fluxes should be conducted to fully unravel and identify ways to relieve the metabolic burden of plasmid maintenance and heterologous protein production and to prevent overflow.

Model-Based Analysis and Optimization of an ISPR Approach Using Reactive Extraction for Pilot-Scale l-Phenylalanine Production

Based on experimental data from fermentation runs, as well as from L-phenylalanine (l-Phe) separation studies, a simple model is presented that describes the total ISPR approach for on-line L-Phe separation. While fermentation process modeling via a macrokinetic model revealed an L-Phe inhibition constant of 20 +/- 1.35 g/L using recombinant E. coli cells, the reactive-extraction process modeling identified the L-Phe cation diffusion in the aqueous donor film and the transport of the lowly soluble carrier/L-Phe complex in the aqueous acceptor film as the most dominant transfer steps. The corresponding mass transfer coefficients were estimated as k(PheD) = 128 x 10(-7) cm/s (extraction) and k(CPheA) = 178 x 10(-5) cm/s (back-extraction). Simulation studies were performed for the total ISPR approach, which gave hints for strategies of further process optimization.

Biosynthesis of the Aromatic Amino Acids

This chapter describes in detail the genes and proteins of Escherichia coli involved in the biosynthesis and transport of the three aromatic amino acids tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan. It provides a historical perspective on the elaboration of the various reactions of the common pathway converting erythrose-4-phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate to chorismate and those of the three terminal pathways converting chorismate to phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. The regulation of key reactions by feedback inhibition, attenuation, repression, and activation are also discussed. Two regulatory proteins, TrpR (108 amino acids) and TyrR (513 amino acids), play a major role in transcriptional regulation. The TrpR protein functions only as a dimer which, in the presence of tryptophan, represses the expression of trp operon plus four other genes (the TrpR regulon). The TyrR protein, which can function both as a dimer and as a hexamer, regulates the expression of nine genes constituting the TyrR regulon. TyrR can bind each of the three aromatic amino acids and ATP and under their influence can act as a repressor or activator of gene expression. The various domains of this protein involved in binding the aromatic amino acids and ATP, recognizing DNA binding sites, interacting with the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase, and changing from a monomer to a dimer or a hexamer are all described. There is also an analysis of the various strategies which allow TyrR in conjunction with particular amino acids to differentially affect the expression of individual genes of the TyrR regulon.

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the production of L-valine based on transcriptome analysis and in silico gene knockout simulation

The L-valine production strain of Escherichia coli was constructed by rational metabolic engineering and stepwise improvement based on transcriptome analysis and gene knockout simulation of the in silico genome-scale metabolic network. Feedback inhibition of acetohydroxy acid synthase isoenzyme III by L-valine was removed by site-directed mutagenesis, and the native promoter containing the transcriptional attenuator leader regions of the ilvGMEDA and ilvBN operon was replaced with the tac promoter. The ilvA, leuA, and panB genes were deleted to make more precursors available for L-valine biosynthesis. This engineered Val strain harboring a plasmid overexpressing the ilvBN genes produced 1.31 g/liter L-valine. Comparative transcriptome profiling was performed during batch fermentation of the engineered and control strains. Among the down-regulated genes, the lrp and ygaZH genes, which encode a global regulator Lrp and L-valine exporter, respectively, were overexpressed. Amplification of the lrp, ygaZH, and lrp-ygaZH genes led to the enhanced production of L-valine by 21.6%, 47.1%, and 113%, respectively. Further improvement was achieved by using in silico gene knockout simulation, which identified the aceF, mdh, and pfkA genes as knockout targets. The VAMF strain (Val DeltaaceF Deltamdh DeltapfkA) overexpressing the ilvBN, ilvCED, ygaZH, and lrp genes was able to produce 7.55 g/liter L-valine from 20 g/liter glucose in batch culture, resulting in a high yield of 0.378 g of L-valine per gram of glucose. These results suggest that an industrially competitive strain can be efficiently developed by metabolic engineering based on combined rational modification, transcriptome profiling, and systems-level in silico analysis.

From scratch to value: engineering Escherichia coli wild type cells to the production of l-phenylalanine and other fine chemicals derived from chorismate

Recombinant strains of Escherichia coli K-12 for the production of the three aromatic amino acids (L-phenylalanine, L-tryptophan, L-tyrosine) have been constructed. The largest demand is for L-phenylalanine (L-Phe), as it can be used as a building block for the low-calorie sweetener, aspartame. Besides L-Phe, an increasing number of shikimic acid pathway intermediates can be produced from appropriate E. coli mutants with blocks in this pathway. The last common intermediate, chorismate, in E. coli not only serves for production of aromatic amino acids but can also be used for high-titer production of non-aromatic compounds, e.g., cyclohexadiene-transdiols. In an approach to diversity-oriented metabolic engineering (metabolic grafting), platform strains with increased flux through the general aromatic pathway were created by suitable gene deletions, additions, or rearrangements. Examples for rational strain constructions for L-phenylalanine and chorismate derivatives are given with emphasis on genetic engineering. As a result, L-phenylalanine producers are available, which were derived through several defined steps from E. coli K-12 wild type. These mutant strains showed L-phenylalanine titers of up to 38 g/l of L-phenylalanine (and up to 45.5 g/l using in situ product recovery). Likewise, two cyclohexadiene-transdiols could be recovered.

L-tyrosine production by deregulated strains of Escherichia coli

The excretion of the aromatic amino acid L: -tyrosine was achieved by manipulating three gene targets in the wild-type Escherichia coli K12: The feedback-inhibition-resistant (fbr) derivatives of aroG and tyrA were expressed on a low-copy-number vector, and the TyrR-mediated regulation of the aromatic amino acid biosynthesis was eliminated by deleting the tyrR gene. The generation of this L: -tyrosine producer, strain T1, was based only on the deregulation of the aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathway, but no structural genes in the genome were affected. A second tyrosine over-producing strain, E. coli T2, was generated considering the possible limitation of precursor substrates. To enhance the availability of the two precursor substrates phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose-4-phosphate, the ppsA and the tktA genes were over-expressed in the strain T1 background, increasing L: -tyrosine production by 80% in 50-ml batch cultures. Fed-batch fermentations revealed that L: -tyrosine production was tightly correlated with cell growth, exhibiting the maximum productivity at the end of the exponential growth phase. The final L: -tyrosine concentrations were 3.8 g/l for E. coli T1 and 9.7 g/l for E. coli T2 with a yield of L: -tyrosine per glucose of 0.037 g/g (T1) and 0.102 g/g (T2), respectively.

Towards bacterial strains overproducing L-tryptophan and other aromatics by metabolic engineering

The aromatic amino acids, L-tryptophan, L-phenylalanine, and L-tyrosine, can be manufactured by bacterial fermentation. Until recently, production efficiency of classical aromatic amino-acid-producing mutants had not yet reached a high level enough to make the fermentation method the most economic. With the introduction of recombinant DNA technology, it has become possible to apply more rational approaches to strain improvement. Many recent activities in this metabolic engineering have led to several effective approaches, which include modification of terminal pathways leading to removal of bottleneck or metabolic conversion, engineering of central carbon metabolism leading to increased supply of precursors, and transport engineering leading to reduced intracellular pool of the aromatic amino acids. In this review, advances in metabolic engineering for the production of the aromatic amino acids and useful aromatic intermediates are described with particular emphasis on two representative producer organisms, Corynebacterium glutamicum and Escherichia coli.

The global gene expression response of Escherichia coli to l-phenylalanine

We investigated the global gene expression changes of Escherichia coli due to the presence of different concentrations of phenylalanine or shikimate in the growth medium. The response to 0.5 g l(-1) phenylalanine primarily reflected a perturbed aromatic amino acid metabolism, in particular due to TyrR-mediated regulation. The addition of 5g l(-1) phenylalanine reduced the growth rate by half and elicited a great number of likely indirect effects on genes regulated in response to changed pH, nitrogen or carbon availability. Consistent with the observed gene expression changes, supplementation with shikimate, tyrosine and tryptophan relieved growth inhibition by phenylalanine. In contrast to the wild-type, a tyrR disruption strain showed increased expression of pckA and of tktB in the presence of phenylalanine, but its growth was not affected by phenylalanine at the concentrations tested. The absence of growth inhibition by phenylalanine suggested that at high phenylalanine concentrations TyrR-defective strains might perform better in phenylalanine production.

Biochemical reaction engineering for redox reactions

Redox reactions are still a challenge for biochemical engineers. A personal view for the development of this field is given. Cofactor regeneration was an obstacle for quite some time. The first technical breakthrough was achieved with the system formate/formate dehydrogenase for the regeneration of NADH2. In cases where the same enzyme could be used for chiral reduction as well as for cofactor regeneration, isopropanol as a hydrogen source proved to be beneficial. The coproduct (acetone) can be removed by pervaporation. Whole-cell reductions (often yeast reductions) can also be used. By proper biochemical reaction engineering, it is possible to apply these systems in a continuous way. By cloning a formate dehydrogenase and an oxidoreductase "designer bug" can be obtained where formate is used instead of glucose as the hydrogen source. Complex sequences of redox reactions can be established by pathway engineering with a focus on gene overexpression or with a focus on establishing non-natural pathways. The success of pathway engineering can be controlled by measuring cytosolic metabolite concentrations. The optimal exploitation of such systems calls for the integrated cooperation of classical and molecular biochemical engineering.

Metabolic engineering for microbial production of shikimic acid

Shikimic acid is a high valued compound used as a key starting material for the synthesis of the neuramidase inhibitor GS4104, which was developed under the name Tamiflu for treatment of antiviral infections. An excellent alternative to the isolation of shikimic acid from fruits of the Illicium plant is the fermentative production by metabolic engineered microorganisms. Fermentative production of shikimic acid was most successfully carried out by rational designed Escherichia coli strains by blocking the aromatic amino acid pathway after the production of shikimic acid. An alternative is to produce shikimic acid as a result of dephosphorylation of shikimate-3-phosphate. Engineering the uptake of carbon, the regulatory circuits, central metabolism and the common aromatic pathway including shikimic acid import that have all been targeted to effect higher productivities and lower by-product formation are discussed.

Bioreactor state estimation and control

Advanced control methods have been effectively employed for industrial chemical processing for decades. Only recently, however, have model-based strategies been implemented for biological processes. Some notable advances include the enhancement of metabolic flux models to describe the dynamic behavior observed in biochemical reactors. The combination of more than one type of model in a hybrid form was shown to perform well for bioprocess control applications.

Industrial production of amino acids by coryneform bacteria

In the 1950s Corynebacterium glutamicum was found to be a very efficient producer of L-glutamic acid. Since this time biotechnological processes with bacteria of the species Corynebacterium developed to be among the most important in terms of tonnage and economical value. L-Glutamic acid and L-lysine are bulk products nowadays. L-Valine, L-isoleucine, L-threonine, L-aspartic acid and L-alanine are among other amino acids produced by Corynebacteria. Applications range from feed to food and pharmaceutical products. The growing market for amino acids produced with Corynebacteria led to significant improvements in bioprocess and downstream technology as well as in molecular biology. During the last decade big efforts were made to increase the productivity and to decrease the production costs. This review gives an overview of the world market for amino acids produced by Corynebacteria. Significant improvements in bioprocess technology, i.e. repeated fed batch or continuous production are summarised. Bioprocess technology itself was improved furthermore by application of more sophisticated feeding and automatisation strategies. Even though several amino acids developed towards commodities in the last decade, side aspects of the production process like sterility or detection of contaminants still have increasing relevance. Finally one focus of this review is on recent developments in downstream technology.