Engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for high-yield L-valine production under oxygen deprivation conditions

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2013 Feb;79(4):1250-7. doi: 10.1128/AEM.02806-12. Epub 2012 Dec 14.

Abstract

We previously demonstrated efficient L-valine production by metabolically engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen deprivation. To achieve the high productivity, a NADH/NADPH cofactor imbalance during the synthesis of l-valine was overcome by engineering NAD-preferring mutant acetohydroxy acid isomeroreductase (AHAIR) and using NAD-specific leucine dehydrogenase from Lysinibacillus sphaericus. Lactate as a by-product was largely eliminated by disrupting the lactate dehydrogenase gene ldhA. Nonetheless, a few other by-products, particularly succinate, were still produced and acted to suppress the L-valine yield. Eliminating these by-products therefore was deemed key to improving theL-valine yield. By additionally disrupting the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase gene ppc, succinate production was effectively suppressed, but both glucose consumption and L-valine production dropped considerably due to the severely elevated intracellular NADH/NAD(+) ratio. In contrast, this perturbed intracellular redox state was more than compensated for by deletion of three genes associated with NADH-producing acetate synthesis and overexpression of five glycolytic genes, including gapA, encoding NADH-inhibited glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Inserting feedback-resistant mutant acetohydroxy acid synthase and NAD-preferring mutant AHAIR in the chromosome resulted in higher L-valine yield and productivity. Deleting the alanine transaminase gene avtA suppressed alanine production. The resultant strain produced 1,280 mM L-valine at a yield of 88% mol mol of glucose(-1) after 24 h under oxygen deprivation, a vastly improved yield over our previous best.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anaerobiosis
  • Biosynthetic Pathways / genetics*
  • Corynebacterium glutamicum / genetics*
  • Corynebacterium glutamicum / metabolism*
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression
  • Lactic Acid / metabolism
  • Metabolic Engineering*
  • NAD / metabolism
  • Oxygen / metabolism
  • Recombination, Genetic
  • Succinic Acid / metabolism
  • Valine / biosynthesis*

Substances

  • NAD
  • Lactic Acid
  • Succinic Acid
  • Valine
  • Oxygen