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High-level succinic acid production and yield by lactose-induced expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in ptsG mutant Escherichia coli

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology volume 87, pages 2025–2035 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Escherichia coli strains with foreign genes under the isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside-inducible promoters such as lac, tac, and trc were engineered and considered as the promising succinic acid-producing bacteria in many reports. The promoters mentioned above could also be induced by lactose, which had not been attempted for succinic acid production before. Here, the efficient utilization of lactose as inducer was demonstrated in cultures of the ptsG, ldhA, and pflB mutant strain DC1515 with ppc overexpression. A fermentative process for succinic acid production at high level by this strain was developed. In flask anaerobic culture, 14.86 g l−1 succinic acid was produced from 15 g l−1 glucose with a yield of 1.51 mol mol−1 glucose. In two-stage culture carried out in a 3-l bioreactor, the overall yield and concentration of succinic acid reached to 1.67 mol mol−1 glucose and 99.7 g l−1, respectively, with a productivity of 1.7 g l−1 h−1 in the anaerobic stage. The efficient utilization of lactose as inducer made recombinant E. coli a more capable strain for succinic acid production at large scale.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant no. KSCX1-YW-11A2) and State Major Basic Research Development Program of China (Grant no. 2007CB714305). The authors thank Professor Clark (Southern Illinois University) for strains W1485 and DC1515 and Professor Kim (Catholic University of Korea) for plasmids pEcPpc and pTrc99A.

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Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 353#, Zhongguancun Bei-er-tiao 1, Haidian District, Beijing, 100190, People’s Republic of China

    Dan Wang, Qiang Li, Jianmin Xing & Zhiguo Su

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Dan Wang & Qiang Li

  3. Department of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Yu Mao

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  1. Dan Wang
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  2. Qiang Li
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  3. Yu Mao
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  4. Jianmin Xing
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Correspondence to Jianmin Xing.

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Wang, D., Li, Q., Mao, Y. et al. High-level succinic acid production and yield by lactose-induced expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in ptsG mutant Escherichia coli . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 87, 2025–2035 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2689-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2689-x

Keywords

  • Glucose phosphotransferase (ptsG)
  • Escherichia coli
  • Succinic acid
  • Lactose induction
  • Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (ppc)