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Removal of pathogenic factors from 2,3-butanediol-producing Klebsiella species by inactivating virulence-related wabG gene

  • Applied Genetics and Molecular Biotechnology
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Abstract

Klebsiella species are the most extensively studied among a number of 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO)-producing microorganisms. The ability to metabolize a wide variety of substrates together with the ease of cultivation made this microorganisms particularly promising for the application in industrial-scale production of 2,3-BDO. However, the pathogenic characteristics of encapsulated Klebsiella species are considered to be an obstacle hindering their industrial applications. Here, we removed the virulence factors from three 2,3-BDO-producing strains, Klebsiella pneumoniae KCTC 2242, Klebsiella oxytoca KCTC1686, and K. oxytoca ATCC 43863 through site-specific recombination technique. We generated deletion mutation in wabG gene encoding glucosyltransferase which plays a key role in the synthesis of outer core lipopolysaccharides (LPS) by attaching the first outer core residue d-GalAp to the O-3 position of the l,d-HeppII residue. The morphologies and adhesion properties against epithelial cells were investigated, and the results indicated that the wabG mutant strains were devoid of the outer core LPS and lost the ability to retain capsular structure. The time profile of growth and 2,3-BDO production from K. pneumoniae KCTC 2242 and K. pneumoniae KCTC 2242 ΔwabG were analyzed in batch culture with initial glucose concentration of 70 g/l. The growth was not affected by disrupting wabG gene, but the production of 2,3-BDO decreased from 31.27 to 22.44 g/l in mutant compared with that of parental strain. However, the productions of acetoin and lactate from wabG mutant strain were negligible, whereas that from parental strain reached to ~5 g/l.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the R&D Program of MKE/KEIT (No. 10035578, Development of 2,3-butanediol and derivative production technology for the C-Zero bio-platform industry).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Life Sciences and Resources & Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701, Republic of Korea

    Sung-Geun Jung, Jun-Ho Jang, Ah-Young Kim, Min-Cheol Lim & Young-Rok Kim

  2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul 121-742, Republic of Korea

    Borim Kim & Jinwon Lee

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  1. Sung-Geun Jung
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  2. Jun-Ho Jang
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  4. Min-Cheol Lim
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  6. Jinwon Lee
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  7. Young-Rok Kim
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Correspondence to Young-Rok Kim.

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Sung-Geun Jung and Jun-Ho Jang contributed equally to this work.

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Jung, SG., Jang, JH., Kim, AY. et al. Removal of pathogenic factors from 2,3-butanediol-producing Klebsiella species by inactivating virulence-related wabG gene. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 1997–2007 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4284-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4284-9

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