Improvement of L-phenylalanine production from glycerol by recombinant Escherichia coli strains: The role of extra copies of glpK, glpX, and tktA genes

Background For the production of L-phenylalanine (L-Phe), two molecules of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and one molecule erythrose-4-phosphate (E4P) are necessary. PEP stems from glycolysis whereas E4P is formed in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Glucose, commonly used for L-Phe production with recombinant E. coli, is taken up via the PEP-dependent phosphotransferase system which delivers glucose-6-phosphate (G6P). G6P enters either glycolysis or the PPP. In contrast, glycerol is phosphorylated by an ATP-dependent glycerol kinase (GlpK) thus saving one PEP. However, two gluconeogenic reactions (fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, FBPase) are necessary for growth and provision of E4P. Glycerol has become an important carbon source for biotechnology and reports on production of L-Phe from glycerol are available. However, the influence of FBPase and transketolase reactions on L-Phe production has not been reported. Results L-Phe productivity of parent strain FUS4/pF81 (plasmid-encoded genes for aroF, aroB, aroL, pheA ) was compared on glucose and glycerol as C sources. On glucose, a maximal carbon recovery of 0.19 mM C Phe /C Glucose and a maximal space-time-yield (STY) of 0.13 g l −1 h −1 was found. With glycerol, the maximal carbon recovery was nearly the same (0.18 mM C Phe /C Glycerol ), but the maximal STY was higher (0.21 g l −1 h −1 ). We raised the chromosomal gene copy number of the genes glpK (encoding glycerol kinase), tktA (encoding transketolase), and glpX (encoding fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase) individually. Overexpression of glpK (or its feedback-resistant variant, glpK G232D ) had little effect on growth rate; L-Phe production was about 30% lower than in FUS4/pF81. Whereas the overexpression of either glpX or tktA had minor effects on productivity (0.20 mM C Phe /C Glycerol ; 0.25 g l −1 h −1 and 0.21 mM C Phe /C Glycerol ; 0.23 g l −1 h −1 , respectively), the combination of extra genes of glpX and tktA together led to an increase in maximal STY of about 80% ...