Search

The objective of this research was to understand how the initial glucose concentration influences adenosine (AR) production and metabolic flux shift on the cultivation of Bacillus subtilis CGMCC 4484. Experiments confirmed that initial glucose concentration affects cell growth, AR production and metabolites, significantly. The flux distribution at the key nodes of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P), pyruvate (PYR) and acetyl coenzyme-A (AcCoA) could be affected by changing the glucose concentration. Based on kinetic analysis of specific rates, the low-glucose concentration was better for both cell growth and AR production during the first 12 h. However, the high-glucose concentration was more favorable for AR formation after 18 h. Furthermore, different simplified feeding strategies were designed to achieve higher AR accumulation. The final AR concentration of 15.60 g L(-1) was achieved when an optimized constant-feeding strategy was used, which was 21.02 % higher than batch fermentation. This was the first time to investigate the regulation of the glucose metabolism of AR-producing B. subtilis.

Removal of biobutanol from acetone-butanolethanol (ABE) fermentation broth can be achieved by fixed-bed sorption by means of KA-I resin, and the relevant breakthrough curves would provide much valuable information to help design a continuous fixed-bed sorption process in field application. In the present study, the effects of several important design parameters, i.e., initial butanol concentration (C f: 3.0 ∼ 30.0 g/L), inlet flow rate (Q f: 0.5 ∼ 5.5 mL/min) and adsorbent bed height (Z: 4.2 ∼ 18.0 cm), on the adsorption breakthrough curves of KA-I resin in a fixed-bed column were investigated. It was found that the amount of adsorbed butanol at breakthrough point was increased with an increase in the value of C f and Z; and with decrease in the value of Q f. However, the maximum sorption capacities of butanol at saturated point were basically unchanged. Three well-established fixed-bed adsorption models, namely Thomas, Yoon-Nelson and Adams-Bohart, were applied to predict the breakthrough curves and to determine the characteristic parameters of fixed-bed column, which are the basis for the process design at a real scale. Good agreement between the theoretical breakthrough curves and the experimental result were observed using Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models.

Most reductases which belong to the short chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) superfamily require NAD (P) H for activity. Addition of this cofactor was still necessary for the production of ethyl (S)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutanoate by Escherichia coli even when a cofactor regeneration system was constructed by co-expressing carbonyl reductase from Pichia stipitis (PsCRI) and glucose dehydrogenase from Bacillus megaterium (BmGDH). In an attempt to reduce dependence on the expensive cofactor, compounds directly or indirectly involved in NADP synthesis were added to the medium. Only glutamine and xylose enhanced the content of intracellular NADP (H) and the concentration of product. The concentration and yield of (S)-CHBE reached 730 mM and 48.7%, with 30 g/L of glutamine and 40 g/L of xylose, a 2.6-fold increase over the control without the addition of the two compounds.

Microbial nuclease P1 from Penicllium citrinum was immobilized on macroporous absorbent resins: strong polar poly (styrene-co-DVB) resin (SPPSD), polymethacrylic ester resin and poly (styrene-co-DVB)-Br resin. The results showed that SPPSD was the best carrier. Three methods of glutaraldehyde cross-linking were used and simultaneous immobilization and cross-linking (CIS) was demonstrated to be the best method. The functional properties of immobilized nuclease P1 were studied and compared to those of the free enzyme. The highest enzyme activities of free and immobilized nuclease P1 were obtained in 0.2 M acetate buffer at pH 4.5 and a temperature of 70 °C. An increase in Km (from 3.165 to 18.125 mg mL−1) and a decrease in Vmax (from 1667.18 to 443.95 U min−1 mL−1) were recorded after immobilization. SPPSD-glutaraldehyde-nuclease P1 exhibited better thermal stability than the free enzyme. The apparent activation energy (Ea) of the free and immobilized nuclease P1 was 137.04 kJ mol−1 and 98.43 kJ mol−1, respectively, implying that the catalytic efficiency of the immobilized enzyme was restricted by mass-transfer rather than kinetic limit.

Experiments confirmed dissolved oxygen (DO) definitely affects cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production by Arthrobacter A302. Production of cAMP by batch fermentation was investigated under various DO conditions. A two-stage DO control strategy was proposed to achieve optimal production of cAMP based on the kinetic analysis: the DO level was controlled at 40% during the first 18 h and then switched to 30%. Relatively high cAMP production (9.9 g L(-1)) was achieved by applying this strategy. The cAMP productivity (0.14 g L(-1) h(-1)) was also successfully improved by 85.1, 59.3, 15.1 and 28.0%, compared to cases in which DO was uncontrolled or DO levels were held at 20, 30 and 40%, respectively. This is the first report of the use of a two-stage DO control strategy in cAMP production, and it was verified to be an effective method for enhancing the cAMP yield via this strain.

A whole-cell biocatalytic process for uridine 5'-monophosphate (UMP) production from orotic acid by Saccharomyces cerevisiae was developed. To rationally redistribute the metabolic flux between glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway, statistical methods were employed first to find out the critical factors in the process. NaH(2)PO(4), MgCl(2) and pH were found to be the important factors affecting UMP production significantly. The levels of these three factors required for the maximum production of UMP were determined: NaH(2)PO(4) 22.1 g/L; MgCl(2) 2.55 g/L; pH 8.15. An enhancement of UMP production from 6.12 to 8.13 g/L was achieved. A significant redistribution of metabolic fluxes was observed and the underlying mechanism was discussed.

Exogenous addition of a low concentration of acetate (2 g/L sodium acetate) effectively decreased acetic acid excretion and lowered the ATP content in Sporolactobacillus sp. Y2-8 without any growth defect although the acetate could not be utilized at an initial glucose concentration of 150 g/L. This induced an enhanced glycolytic flux with increased specific activities of hexokinase and phosphofructokinase, probably to compensate for the lowered efficiency of ATP production. However, with increasing concentrations (5 g/L sodium acetate), acetate was utilized first before being produced again, causing a growth lag at the transition. Glucose consumption was also reduced at high acetate concentrations, resulting in decreased d-lactic acid production. These results demonstrate that acetate plays a significant role in regulating glycolysis and growth of Sporolactobacillus.

During ribonucleic acid fermentation, the fermentative processes were researched at pH controlled at 4.0 and under natural conditions. Unstructured models in a 50-L airlift fermentor were established for batch RNA production at pH 4.0 using the Verhulst equation for microbial growth, the Luedeking-Piret equation for product formation and a Luedeking-Piret-like equation for substrate uptake. Parameters of the kinetic models were determined using origin 7.5. Based on the models estimated above, another batch fermentation experiment was conducted in a 300-L airlift fermentor, which demonstrated that the models could be useful for RNA production on an industrial scale. Additionally, continuous fermentation based on kinetic models was proposed to make full use of substrates and reduce the cost of waste water treatment. As a result, although the DCW and RNA concentration were 11.5 and 1.68 g L(-1), which were lower than that of batch fermentation, the sugar utilization increased by 14.3%, while the waste water decreased by more than 90%.

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) was synthesized through the purine salvage synthesis pathway by Arthrobacter A302. Results showed that hypoxanthine was the best of the precursors, and the cAMP concentration reached 4.06 g/L. For inhibition of the glycolytic pathway, sodium fluoride was found the optimal effector, which was further studied on cAMP production. With the addition of 0.4 g/L of sodium fluoride, the maximal cAMP concentration reached 11.04 g/L, and the concentrations of lactic acid, alpha-ketoglutarate and citric acid were decreased by 77%, 86% and 76%, respectively. Meanwhile, the specific activities of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase were decreased by 66%, 61%, and 46%, respectively. By contrast the activity of 6-phosphoglucose dehydrogenase was increased by 100%, which demonstrated the redistribution of metabolic flux. This is the first study to reveal the regulatory mechanisms of different effectors on cAMP production among the EMP pathway, HMP pathway and TCA cycle.

Both stimulation of ammonium ion on the glycolytic flux and regulation by glycerol of enzymes in Kennedy pathway for cytidine diphosphate choline production in S. cerevisiae were studied. The conventional transformation course featured four stages. Firstly, CMP and choline chloride were phosphorylated and CDP-choline was formed rapidly; secondly, the rate of CDP-choline formation declined and CMP was not detected in the mixture; thirdly, CMP was released and the CDP-choline concentration reached a peak; Fourthly, the compound concentrations did not practically changes eventually. Using the central composite design, the concentration, yield, and utilization efficiency of energy reached 24.7 mmol/L, 82.3% and 10.6%, with 30 mmol/L of ammonium ion and 1% (V/V) of glycerol, respectively. Ammonium ion not only strengthened the glycolytic pathway, but also coordinated the reaction rate between the glycolytic pathway and the Kennedy pathway. Glycerol alleviated the activity decrease of the key enzymes in the mixture.

Response surface methodology was employed to optimize medium composition for the production of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) with Microbacterium sp. no. 205. A fractional factorial design (2(11-7)) was applied to evaluate the effects of different components in the medium. K(2)HPO(4), MgSO(4) and NaF were found to significantly influence on the cAMP production. The steepest ascent method was used to access the optimal region of the medium composition. The concentrations of the three factors were optimized subsequently using central composite design and response surface methodology. The optimal medium composition to achieve the optimal cAMP production was determined (g/L): K(2)HPO(4), 12.78; MgSO(4), 3.53 and NaF, 0.18. The corresponding cAMP concentration was 8.50 g/L, which was about 1.8-fold increase compared with that using the original medium. Validation experiments were also carried out to prove the adequacy and the accuracy of the model obtained. The cAMP fermentation in 5L fermenter reached 9.87 g/L.