Microbial Production of Products Derived from Oxaloacetate

TO-153 • PT 1.2785, PT 1.2784, PT 1.2783 • As of 2/2024
Institute of Bio- and Geosciences
Biotechnology (IBG-1)

A microorganism with a modified pyruvate carboxylase for the production of amino acids of the aspartate and glutamate family starting from oxaloacetate.

Technology

The invention comprises a pyruvate carboxylase and a DNA coding for it, a plasmid containing the DNA and a microorganism for production. Furthermore, there is also a process for the production of products starting from oxaloacetate.

Problem addressed

The microbial production of amino acids of the aspartate family (e.g. L-lysine) and the glutamate family (e.g. L-glutamate) requires the TCA-cycle intermediate oxaloacetate. When oxaloacetate is withdrawn from the TCA-cycle, the oxaloacetate-pool has to be replenished by anaplerotic reactions to keep the TCA cycle running. This can be reached e.g. with the enzyme pyruvate carboxylase, which produces oxaloacetate from pyruvate. However, its activity is inhibited by a high intracellular aspartate concentration. This limits the production of L-lysine, for example. Enzyme variants described so far only lead to a moderate increase in L-lysine production. This applies analogously to other interesting products.

Solution

The present microorganism, which contains a novel pyruvate carboxylase, enables increased yields, titers and volumetric and specific productivity in the production of oxaloacetate-derived products.

Benefits and Potential Use

Microbial production of products such as L-lysine, L-asparagine, L-glutamine and L-arginine.

Development Status and Next Steps

The system has been validated on a laboratory scale.

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