Rational reformation of Corynebacterium glutamicum for producing L-lysine by one-step fermentation from raw corn starch

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2022 Jan;106(1):145-160. doi: 10.1007/s00253-021-11714-z. Epub 2021 Dec 6.

Abstract

This article focuses on engineering Corynebacterium glutamicum to produce L-lysine efficiently from starch using combined method of "classical breeding" and "genome breeding." Firstly, a thermo-tolerable L-lysine-producing C. glutamicum strain KT45-6 was obtained after multi-round of acclimatization at high temperature. Then, amylolytic enzymes were introduced into strain KT45-6, and the resultant strains could use starch for cell growth and L-lysine production except the strain with expression of isoamylase. In addition, co-expression of amylolytic enzymes showed a good performance in starch degradation, cell growth and L-lysine production, especially co-expression of α-amylase (AA) and glucoamylase (GA). Moreover, L-lysine yield was increased by introducing AA-GA fusion protein (i.e., strain KT45-6S-5), and finally reached to 23.9 ± 2.3 g/L in CgXIIIPM-medium. It is the first report of an engineered L-lysine-producing strain with maximum starch utilization that may be used as workhorse for producing amino acid using starch as the main feedstock. KEY POINTS: • Thermo-tolerable C. glutamicum was obtained by temperature-induced adaptive evolution. • The fusion order between AA and GA affects the utilization efficiency of starch. • C. glutamicum with starch utilization was constructed by optimizing amylases expression.

Keywords: Amylolytic enzyme; Corynebacterium glutamicum; L-lysine production; Starch degradation; Thermo-tolerance.

MeSH terms

  • Corynebacterium glutamicum* / genetics
  • Corynebacterium glutamicum* / metabolism
  • Fermentation
  • Lysine / metabolism
  • Metabolic Engineering
  • Starch / metabolism
  • Zea mays / metabolism

Substances

  • Starch
  • Lysine