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Escherichia coli BA002, in which the ldhA and pflB genes are deleted, cannot utilize glucose anaerobically due to the inability to regenerate NAD+. To restore glucose utilization, overexpression of nicotinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase (NAPRTase) encoded by the pncB gene, a rate-limiting enzyme of NAD(H) synthesis pathway, resulted in a significant increase in cell mass and succinate production under anaerobic conditions. However, a high concentration of pyruvate was accumulated. Thus, co-expression of NAPRTase and the heterologous pyruvate carboxylase (PYC) of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris NZ9000 in recombinant E. coli BA016 was investigated. Results in 3 L fermentor showed that OD600 is 4.64 and BA016 consumed 35.00 g/L glucose and produced 25.09 g/L succinate after 112 h under anaerobic conditions. Overexpression of pncB and pyc in BA016, the accumulation of pyruvic acid was further decreased, and the formation of succinic acid was further increased.

Escherichia coli strain DC1515, deficient in glucose phosphotransferase (ptsG), lactate dehydrogenase (ldhA) and pyruvate:formate lyase (pflA), is a promising candidate for the fermentative production of succinate. To further improve the succinate producing capability of DC1515, we constructed plasmid pTrchisA-pyc with heterogenous pyruvate carboxylase (pyc) from Bacillus subtilis 168 under the Trc promoter and introduced it into DC1515. We used lactose as a substitute of IPTG to induce pyc. We optimized the culture conditions such as the lactose addition time, the lactose concentration and the culture temperature after induction for succinate production. We also explored the effect of lactose supplement during the fermentation. The results showed that pyc can be expressed under lactose induction in the fermentative medium with 15 g/L glucose due to the deficient of ptsG in DC1515. Under optimized conditions, the final succinate concentration reached to 15.17 g/L, which was 1.78-fold higher than that of control strain. If complementing lactose twice to the concentration of 1 g/L during the fermentation, the final succinate concentration could further reach to 17.54 g/L. This work might provide valuable information for gene expression in E. coli strains using lactose as inducer for succinate production in a glucose-medium. Due to the reduced cost, E. coli is becoming a more promising strain for succinate production through fermentation.