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The glycolytic intermediate phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) is a precursor of several cellular components, including various aromatic compounds. Modifications to the PEP node such as PEP:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) or pyruvate kinase inactivation have been shown to have a positive effect on aromatics production capacity in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. In this study, pyruvate kinase and PTS-deficient B. subtilis strains were employed for the construction of derivatives lacking shikimate kinase activity that accumulate two industrially valuable chemicals, the intermediates of the common aromatic pathway, shikimic and dehydroshikimic acids. The pyruvate kinase-deficient strain (CLC6-PYKA) showed the best production parameters under resting-cell conditions. Compared to the PTS-deficient strain, the shikimic and dehydroshikimic acids specific production rates for CLC6-PYKA were 1.8- and 1.7-fold higher, respectively. A batch fermentor culture using complex media supplemented with 83 g/l of glucose was developed with strain CLC6-PYKA, where final titers of 4.67 g/l (shikimic acid) and 6.2 g/l (dehydroshikimic acid) were produced after 42 h.

In Escherichia coli, the phosphoenolpyruvate-carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) is responsible for the transport and phosphorylation of sugars, such as glucose. PTS activity has a crucial role in the global signaling system that controls the preferential consumption of glucose over other carbon sources. When the cell is exposed to carbohydrate mixtures, the PTS prevents the expression of catabolic genes and activity of non-PTS sugars transport systems by carbon catabolite repression (CCR). This process defines some metabolic and physiological constraints that must be considered during the development of production strains. In this review, we summarize the importance of the PTS in controlling and influencing both PTS and non-PTS sugar transport processes as well as the mechanisms of transcriptional control involved in the expression of catabolic genes of non-PTS sugars in E. coli. We discuss three main approaches applied efficiently to avoid these constraints resulting in obtaining PTS(-) glc(+) mutants useful for production purposes: (1) adaptive selection in chemostat culture system of PTS(-) mutants, resulting in the selection of strains that recovered the ability to grow in glucose, along with the simultaneous consumption of two carbon sources and reduced acetate production; (2) replacement in PTS(-) strains of the native GalP promoter by strong promoters or the substitution of this permease by recombinant glucose transport system; and (3) enhancement of Crp (crp+) in mgsA, pgi, and ptsG mutants, resulting in derivative strains that abolished CCR, allowing the simultaneous consumption of mixtures of sugars with low acetate production.

Background A metabolic regulation study was performed, based upon measurements of enzymatic activities, fermentation performance, and RT-PCR analysis of pathways related to central carbon metabolism, in an ethanologenic Escherichia coli strain (CCE14) derived from lineage C. In comparison with previous engineered strains, this E coli derivative has a higher ethanol production rate in mineral medium, as a result of the elevated heterologous expression of the chromosomally integrated genes encoding PDC Zm and ADH Zm (pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase from Zymomonas mobilis). It is suggested that this behavior might be due to lineage differences between E. coli W and C. Results This study demonstrated that the glycolytic flux is controlled, in this case, by reactions outside glycolysis, i.e., the fermentative pathways. Changes in ethanol production rate in this ethanologenic strain result in low organic acid production rates, and high glycolytic and ethanologenic fluxes, that correlate with enhanced transcription and enzymatic activity levels of PDC Zm and ADH Zm . Furthermore, a higher ethanol yield (90% of the theoretical) in glucose-mineral media was obtained with CCE14 in comparison with previous engineered E. coli strains, such as KO11, that produces a 70% yield under the same conditions. Conclusion Results suggest that a higher ethanol formation rate, caused by ahigher PDC Zm and ADH Zm activities induces a metabolic state that cells compensate through enhanced glucose transport, ATP synthesis, and NAD-NADH+H turnover rates. These results show that glycolytic enzymatic activities, present in E. coli W and C under fermentative conditions, are sufficient to contend with increases in glucose consumption and product formation rates.

It has been demonstrated that about 10% of the Escherichia coli genes are under direct or indirect control of RpoS. Therefore, Weber et al. [2005] proposed that this sigma subunit should be considered a second vegetative sigma factor under non-optimal growth conditions. In this report we demonstrate that in the phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system-deficient (PTS–) derivatives, PB11 and PB12 of strain JM101 that permanently grow slowly on glucose, the inactivation of rpoS resulted in decreased growth rates of 50 and 10%, respectively. Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) analysis confirmed the important role of this sigma factor in the PTS– strains and allowed the identification of 19 genes including almost all the glycolytic genes, not previously reported, to be at least partially dependent on RpoS. The transcription level of gpp, spoT, ppa and ndk whose products are involved in ppGpp metabolism was upregulated in strain PB12 as compared to the parental strains PB11 and JM101. In the PTS– strains, at least three of these genes (gpp, spoT and ppa) were mainly or partially regulated by RpoS which is known to require ppGpp for activation, while only gpp was highly RpoS-dependent in the parental PTS+ strain JM101. The role of RpoS in the transcription of these genes was analyzed and evidence that the expression of this group of genes could be regulated by a common factor in addition to RpoS was discussed.

Background Escherichia coli strains lacking the phosphoenolpyruvate: carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) are capable of coutilizing glucose and other carbon sources due to the absence of catabolite repression by glucose. In these strains, the lack of this important regulatory and transport system allows the coexistence of glycolytic and gluconeogenic pathways. Strains lacking PTS have been constructed with the goal of canalizing part of the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) not consumed in glucose transport to the aromatic pathway. The deletion of the ptsHIcrr operon inactivates PTS causing poor growth on this sugar; nonetheless, fast growing mutants on glucose have been isolated (PB12 strain). However, there are no reported studies concerning the growth potential of a PTS- strain in mixtures of different carbon sources to enhance the production of aromatics compounds. Results PB12 strain is capable of coutilizing mixtures of glucose-arabinose, glucose-gluconate and glucose-glycerol. This capacity increases its specific growth rate (μ) given that this strain metabolizes more moles of carbon source per unit time. The presence of plasmids pRW300aroGfbr and pCLtktA reduces the μ of strain PB12 in all mixtures of carbon sources, but enhances the productivity and yield of aromatic compounds, especially in the glucose-glycerol mixture, as compared to glucose or glycerol cultures. No acetate was detected in the glycerol and the glucose-glycerol batch fermentations. Conclusion Due to the lack of catabolite repression, PB12 strain carrying multicopy plasmids containing tktA and aroGfbr genes is capable of coutilizing glucose and other carbon sources; this capacity, reduces its μ but increases the production of aromatic compounds.

In Escherichia coli the phosphotransferase system (PTS) consumes one molecule of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to phosphorylate each molecule of internalized glucose. PEP bioavailability into the aromatic pathway can be increased by inactivating the PTS. However, the lack of the PTS results in decreased glucose transport and growth rates. To overcome such drawbacks in a PTS(-) strain and reconstitute rapid growth on glucose phenotype (Glc(+)), the glk and galP genes were cloned into a plasmid and the arcA gene was inactivated. Simultaneous overexpression of glk and galP increased the growth rate and regenerated a Glc(+) phenotype. However, the highest growth rate was obtained when glk and galP were overexpressed in the arcA(-) background. These results indicated that the arcA mutation enhanced glycolytic and respiratory capacities of the engineered strain.

The capacity to utilize sucrose as a carbon and energy source (Scr(+) phenotype) is a highly variable trait among Escherichia coli strains. In this study, seven enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains from different sources were studied for their capacity to grow using sucrose. Liquid media cultures showed that all analyzed strains have the Scr(+) phenotype and two distinct groups were defined: one of five and another of two strains displaying doubling times of 67 and 125 min, respectively. The genes conferring the Scr(+) phenotype in one of the fast-growing strains (T19) were cloned and sequenced. Comparative sequence analysis revealed that this strain possesses the scr regulon genes scrKYABR, encoding phosphoenolpyruvate:phosphotransferase system-dependent sucrose transport and utilization activities. Transcript level quantification revealed sucrose-dependent induction of scrK and scrR genes in fast-growing strains, whereas no transcripts were detected in slow-growing strains. Sequence comparison analysis revealed that the scr genes in strain T19 are almost identical to those present in the scr regulon of prototype EPEC E2348/69 and in both strains, the scr genes are inserted in the chromosomal intergenic region of hypothetical genes ygcE and ygcF. Comparison of the ygcE-ygcF intergenic region sequence of strains MG1655, enterohemorrhagic EDL933, uropathogenic ECFT073 and EPEC T19-E2348/69 revealed that the number of extragenic highly repeated iap sequences corresponded to nine, four, two and none, respectively. These results show that the iap sequence-containing chromosomal ygcE-ygcF intergenic region is highly variable in E. coli.

We report a study to determine the role of pyruvate oxidase among Escherichia coli isogenic strains with active and inactive phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS). Strain PB11, displaying a specific growth rate (mu) in glucose minimal medium of 0.1 h(-1) is a ptsHI, crr operon deletion derivative of wild-type JM101 (displaying a mu of 0.70 h(-1)). Strain PB12 is a spontaneous mutant obtained from PB11 after selection for its capacity to grow on glucose with a mu of 0.40 h(-1). In minimal medium cultures supplemented with glucose plus acetate, strain JM101 displayed preferential consumption of glucose, whereas strains PB11 and PB12 did not display glucose catabolic repression of acetate consumption. Inactivation of poxB caused a severe reduction in growth rate in strain PB11 when grown in the fermentor with medium containing glucose or glucose plus acetate, whereas under the same conditions poxB(-)derivative strains of JM101 and PB12 were not affected. Relative transcript levels for 29 genes related to poxB transcriptional regulation and central metabolism were determined using RT-PCR. This analysis revealed 2-fold lower transcript levels for genes encoding subunits of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (Pdh) in strain PB11 and 4- to 6-fold higher transcript levels for poxB in strains PB11 and PB12, when compared to JM101. In addition, in the PTS(-) strains, upregulation of the poxB transcription factors rpoS, soxS and marA, was detected. The results presented here strongly suggest that AcCoA is mainly synthesized from acetate produced by pyruvate oxidase in strain PB11, whereas in strains JM101 and PB12, AcCoA is synthesized preferentially from pyruvate by Pdh.

The role of the enzymes uridine-5'-diphospho-(UDP) glucose pyrophosphorylase and UDP galactose 4-epimerase in exopolysaccharide production of Gal- ropy and non-ropy strains of Streptococcus thermophilus in a batch culture was investigated. Growth of the ropy and non-ropy strains was accompanied by total release of the galactose moiety from lactose hydrolysis in modified Bellinker broth with lactose as the only carbon source. This was associated with a greater exopolysaccharide production by the ropy strain. The polymer produced by both strains in cultures with lactose or glucose as carbon sources contained glucose, galactose and rhamnose, indicating that glucose was used as a carbon source for bacterial growth and for exopolysaccharide formation. UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase activity was associated with polysaccharide production during the first 12 h in a 20 h culture in the ropy strain, but not in the non-ropy strain. UDP-galactose 4-epimerase was not associated with exopolysaccharide synthesis in any strain. The evidence presented suggests that the glucose moiety from lactose hydrolysis is the source of sugar for heteropolysaccharide synthesis, due to a high UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase activity.

The bacterial diversity in pulque, a traditional Mexican alcoholic fermented beverage, was studied in 16S rDNA clone libraries from three pulque samples. Sequenced clones identified as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus strain ASF360, L. kefir, L. acetotolerans, L. hilgardii, L. plantarum, Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Microbacterium arborescens, Flavobacterium johnsoniae, Acetobacter pomorium, Gluconobacter oxydans, and Hafnia alvei, were detected for the first time in pulque. Identity of 16S rDNA sequenced clones showed that bacterial diversity present among pulque samples is dominated by Lactobacillus species (80.97%). Seventy-eight clones exhibited less than 95% of relatedness to NCBI database sequences, which may indicate the presence of new species in pulque samples.

The activities of some enzymes belonging to the Leloir pathway, phosphoglucomutase, UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, UDP-galactose 4-epimerase and galactose 1-P uridyl transferase, were studied in a wild ropy, a non-ropy and an overproducing mutant ropy strain of Streptococcus thermophilus. These activities were assayed over successive culture transfers along with exocellular polysaccharide (EPS) production. The overproducing mutant ropy strain showed increments in polysaccharide production over successive culture transfers, as opposed to reductions in production by the wild ropy strain. The observed variations among strains in the enzyme activities that were analysed in relation to EPS production suggest their involvement in the synthesis of sugar-nucleotide EPS precursors.

Background Escherichia coli strains lacking the phosphoenolpyruvate: carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS), which is the major bacterial component involved in glucose transport and its phosphorylation, accumulate high amounts of phosphoenolpyruvate that can be diverted to the synthesis of commercially relevant products. However, these strains grow slowly in glucose as sole carbon source due to its inefficient transport and metabolism. Strain PB12, with 400% increased growth rate, was isolated after a 120 hours adaptive laboratory evolution process for the selection of faster growing derivatives in glucose. Analysis of the genetic changes that occurred in the PB12 strain that lacks PTS will allow a better understanding of the basis of its growth adaptation and, therefore, in the design of improved metabolic engineering strategies for enhancing carbon diversion into the aromatic pathways. Results Whole genome analyses using two different sequencing methodologies: the Roche NimbleGen Inc. comparative genome sequencing technique, and high throughput sequencing with Illumina Inc. GAIIx, allowed the identification of the genetic changes that occurred in the PB12 strain. Both methods detected 23 non-synonymous and 22 synonymous point mutations. Several non-synonymous mutations mapped in regulatory genes (arcB, barA, rpoD, rna) and in other putative regulatory loci (yjjU, rssA and ypdA). In addition, a chromosomal deletion of 10,328 bp was detected that removed 12 genes, among them, the rppH, mutH and galR genes. Characterization of some of these mutated and deleted genes with their functions and possible functions, are presented. Conclusions The deletion of the contiguous rppH, mutH and galR genes that occurred simultaneously, is apparently the main reason for the faster growth of the evolved PB12 strain. In support of this interpretation is the fact that inactivation of the rppH gene in the parental PB11 strain substantially increased its growth rate, very likely by increasing glycolytic mRNA genes stability. Furthermore, galR inactivation allowed glucose transport by GalP into the cell. The deletion of mutH in an already stressed strain that lacks PTS is apparently responsible for the very high mutation rate observed.

Background Shikimic acid (SA) is utilized in the synthesis of oseltamivir-phosphate, an anti-influenza drug. In this work, metabolic engineering approaches were employed to produce SA in Escherichia coli strains derived from an evolved strain (PB12) lacking the phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS-) but with capacity to grow on glucose. Derivatives of PB12 strain were constructed to determine the effects of inactivating aroK, aroL, pykF or pykA and the expression of plasmid-coded genes aroGfbr, tktA, aroB and aroE, on SA synthesis. Results Batch cultures were performed to evaluate the effects of genetic modifications on growth, glucose consumption, and aromatic intermediate production. All derivatives showed a two-phase growth behavior with initial high specific growth rate (μ) and specific glucose consumption rate (qs), but low level production of aromatic intermediates. During the second growth phase the μ decreased, whereas aromatic intermediate production reached its maximum. The double aroK- aroL- mutant expressing plasmid-coded genes (strain PB12.SA22) accumulated SA up to 7 g/L with a yield of SA on glucose of 0.29 mol/mol and a total aromatic compound yield (TACY) of 0.38 mol/mol. Single inactivation of pykF or pykA was performed in PB12.SA22 strain. Inactivation of pykF caused a decrease in μ, qs, SA production, and yield; whereas TACY increased by 33% (0.5 mol/mol). Conclusions The effect of increased availability of carbon metabolites, their channeling into the synthesis of aromatic intermediates, and disruption of the SA pathway on SA production was studied. Inactivation of both aroK and aroL, and transformation with plasmid-coded genes resulted in the accumulation of SA up to 7 g/L with a yield on glucose of 0.29 mol/mol PB12.SA22, which represents the highest reported yield. The pykF and pykA genes were inactivated in strain PB12.SA22 to increase the production of aromatic compounds in the PTS- background. Results indicate differential roles of Pyk isoenzymes on growth and aromatic compound production. This study demonstrated for the first time the simultaneous inactivation of PTS and pykF as part of a strategy to improve SA production and its aromatic precursors in E. coli, with a resulting high yield of aromatic compounds on glucose of 0.5 mol/mol.