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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2004, p. 7277-7287, Vol. 70, No. 12
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.12.7277-7287.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Metabolic Fluxes in Corynebacterium glutamicum during Lysine Production with Sucrose as Carbon Source

Christoph Wittmann,^1* Patrick Kiefer,¹ and Oskar Zelder²

Biochemical Engineering, Saarland University, Saarbrücken,¹ Research on Fine Chemicals and Biotechnology, BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany²

Received 5 May 2004/ Accepted 22 July 2004

Metabolic fluxes in the central metabolism were determined for lysine-producing Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 21526 with sucrose as a carbon source, providing an insight into molasses-based industrial production processes with this organism. For this purpose, ¹³C metabolic flux analysis with parallel studies on [1-¹³C^Fru]sucrose, [1-¹³C^Glc]sucrose, and [¹³C₆^Fru]sucrose was carried out. C. glutamicum directed 27.4% of sucrose toward extracellular lysine. The strain exhibited a relatively high flux of 55.7% (normalized to an uptake flux of hexose units of 100%) through the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). The glucose monomer of sucrose was completely channeled into the PPP. After transient efflux, the fructose residue was mainly taken up by the fructose-specific phosphotransferase system (PTS) and entered glycolysis at the level of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. Glucose-6-phosphate isomerase operated in the gluconeogenetic direction from fructose-6-phosphate to glucose-6-phosphate and supplied additional carbon (7.2%) from the fructose part of the substrate toward the PPP. This involved supply of fructose-6-phosphate from the fructose part of sucrose either by PTS^Man or by fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase. C. glutamicum further exhibited a high tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle flux of 78.2%. Isocitrate dehydrogenase therefore significantly contributed to the total NADPH supply of 190%. The demands for lysine (110%) and anabolism (32%) were lower than the supply, resulting in an apparent NADPH excess. The high TCA cycle flux and the significant secretion of dihydroxyacetone and glycerol display interesting targets to be approached by genetic engineers for optimization of the strain investigated.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Biochemical Engineering, Saarland University, Im Stadtwald, 66041 Saarbrücken, Germany. Phone: 49-681-302-2205. Fax: 49-681-302-4572. E-mail: c.wittmann{at}mx.uni-saarland.de.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2004, p. 7277-7287, Vol. 70, No. 12
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.12.7277-7287.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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