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Improvement of the production of L-tryptophan in Escherichia coli by application of a dissolved oxygen stage control strategy

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Abstract

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a key parameter for the production of L-tryptophan, and maintenance of appropriate DO levels can be used to increase the formation of L-tryptophan and reduce the accumulation of acetate and glutamate. In addition, controlling the level of DO by adjusting the feeding rate of glucose solution affects the concentration of glucose in the fermentation process. In this study, the effects of DO levels on L-tryptophan production were investigated, and four strategies of DO stage control were developed for use in L-tryptophan fermentation. The results indicate that the application of DO stage control I (20 % oxygen at 0–20 h, 30 % at 20–38 h) during L-tryptophan fermentation resulted in the highest dry cell weight (51.2 g/L) and production of L-tryptophan (46.8 g/L), which were 1.10 and 1.28 times as high, respectively, as those obtained during DO stage control III (50 % oxygen at 0–20 h and 20 % at 20–38 h). Additionally, the total glucose conversion percentage with DO stage control I was 17.2 %, which was 13.16 % higher than that of DO stage control III. Furthermore, the metabolic flux distribution with DO stage control I and III revealed greater carbon flux into the pentose phosphate pathway, while the flux of byproducts (acetate, glutamate, and lactate) was lower during DO stage control I. Finally, the flux of tryptophan with DO stage control I was 19.3 %, which was 1.79 times as high as that obtained with DO stage control III.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program: 2012AA02A703), and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team at the University of the Ministry of Education of China (IRT 1166).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, People’s Republic of China

    Chunguang Zhao, Qingyang Xu & Ning Chen

  2. Shandong Binzhou Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine Academy, Shandong Binzhou Research, Development and Promotion Center for Livestock and Poultry Propolis Vaccine, Shandong Lvdu Bio-science and Technology Co. Ltd., Binzhou, 256600, People’s Republic of China

    Likun Cheng & Zhiqiang Shen

  3. College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, People’s Republic of China

    Jian Wang

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  1. Chunguang Zhao
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  2. Likun Cheng
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  3. Qingyang Xu
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  4. Jian Wang
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  5. Zhiqiang Shen
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  6. Ning Chen
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Correspondence to Likun Cheng, Jian Wang or Ning Chen.

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Zhao, C., Cheng, L., Xu, Q. et al. Improvement of the production of L-tryptophan in Escherichia coli by application of a dissolved oxygen stage control strategy. Ann Microbiol 66, 843–854 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1172-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1172-4

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