Balaji Sundara Sekar

Co-production of hydrogen and ethanol from glucose by modification of glycolytic pathways in Escherichia coli - from Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway to pentose phosphate pathway.

Hydrogen (H2) production from glucose by dark fermentation suffers from the low yield. As a solution to this problem, co‐production of H2 and ethanol, both of which are good biofuels, has been suggested. To this end, using Escherichia coli, activation of pentose phosphate (PP) pathway, which can generate more NADPH than the Embden‐Meyhof‐Parnas (EMP) pathway, was attempted. Overexpression of two key enzymes in the branch nodes of the glycolytic pathway, Zwf and Gnd, significantly improved the co‐production of H2 and ethanol with concomitant reduction of pyruvate secretion. Gene expression analysis and metabolic flux analysis (MFA) showed that, upon overexpression of Zwf and Gnd, glucose assimilation through the PP pathway, compared with that of the EMP or Entner‐Doudoroff (ED) pathway, was greatly enhanced. The maximum co‐production yields were 1.32 mol H2 mol−1 glucose and 1.38 mol ethanol mol−1 glucose, respectively. It is noteworthy that the glycolysis and the amount of NAD(P)H formed under anaerobic conditions could be altered by modifying (the activity of) several key enzymes. Our strategy could be applied for the development of industrial strains for biological production of reduced chemicals and biofuels which suffers from lack of reduced co‐factors.

Metabolic engineering of Klebsiella pneumoniae J2B for co-production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid and 1,3-propanediol from glycerol: Reduction of acetate and other by-products

Production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) or 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) production from glycerol is challenging due to the problems associated with cofactor regeneration, coenzyme B12 synthesis, and the instability of pathway enzymes. To address these complications, simultaneous production of 3-HP and 1,3-PDO, instead of individual production of each compound, was attempted. With over-expression of an aldehyde dehydrogenase, recombinant Klebsiella pneumoniae could co-produce 3-HP and 1,3-PDO successfully. However, the production level was unsatisfactory due to excessive accumulation of many by-products, especially acetate. To reduce acetate production, we attempted; (i) reduction of glycerol assimilation through the glycolytic pathway, (ii) increase of glycerol flow towards co-production, and (iii) variation of aeration rate. These efforts were partially beneficial in reducing acetate and improving co-production: 21g/L of 1,3-PDO and 43g/L of 3-HP were obtained. Excessive acetate (>150mM) was still produced at the end of bioreactor runs, and limited co-production efficiency.

Isolation of a novel Pseudomonas species SP2 producing vitamin B12 under aerobic condition

Vitamin B12 is a complex biomolecule that acts as a cofactor for a variety of enzymes in microbial metabolism. Pseudomonas denitrificans is exclusively used as an industrial strain for the production of vitamin B12 under aerobic conditions. However, only a few strains of Pseudomonas have been reported to possess the capability of producing this vitamin and they are strongly patent-protected. To improve the applicability of the vitamin B12-producing microorganisms, a new isolate was obtained from municipal waste samples and characterized for its biological properties. The new isolate, designated as SP2, was identified to be a Pseudomonas species based on the sequence homology of its 16S rDNA. Pseudomonas species SP2 had essential genes for vitamin B12 synthesis such as cobB and cobQ and produced a similar amount of vitamin B12 (10.6 ± 0.05 μg/mL) as P. denitrificans ATCC 13867 in 24 h flask culture. SP2 grew well under aerobic condition with the maximum specific growth rate (µmax) of 0.91 ± 0.03/h, but showed a poor growth under micro-aerobic conditions. SP2 was resistant to antibiotics like streptomycin, carbenicillin, ampicillin, cefpodoxime, colistin, nalidixic acid and sparfloxacin. The ability of SP2 to grow faster and produce vitamin B12 under aerobic conditions makes it a promising host for the production of some biochemicals requiring a coenzyme B12-dependent enzyme, such as glycerol dehydratase.

Characterization of 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase (DhaT) from Klebsiella pneumoniae J2B

Abstract1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase (DhaT) of Klebsiella pneumoniae converts 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) during microbial production of 1,3-PD from glycerol. In this study, DhaT from newly isolated K. pneumoniae J2B was cloned, expressed, purified, and studied for its kinetic properties. It showed, on its physiological substrate 3-HPA, higher activity than similar aldehydes such as acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde and butyraldehyde. The turnover numbers (kcat, 1/s) were estimated as 59.4 for the forward reaction (3-HPA to 1,3-PD at pH 7.0) and 10.0 for the reverse reaction (1,3-PD to 3-HPA at pH 9.0). The Michaelis constants (Km, mM) were 0.77 (for 3-HPA) and 0.03 (for NADH) for the forward reaction (at pH 7.0), and 7.44 (for 1,3-PD) and 0.23 (for NAD+) for the reverse reaction (at pH 9.0). Between these forward and reverse reactions, the optimum temperature and pH were significantly different (37°C and 7.0 vs. 55°C and 9.0, respectively). These results indicate that, under physiological conditions, DhaT mostly catalyzes the forward reaction. The enzyme was seriously inhibited by heavy metal ions such as Ag+ and Hg2+. DhaT was highly unstable when incubated with its own substrate 3-HPA, indicating the necessity of enhancing its stability for improved 1,3-PD production from glycerol.

Improvement of 1,3-propanediol Oxidoreductase (DhaT) Stability Against 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde by Substitution of Cysteine Residues

Abstract1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase (DhaT), which catalyzes the conversion of 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) with the oxidation of NADH to NAD+, is a key enzyme in the production of 1,3-PD from glycerol. DhaT is known to be severely inactivated by its physiological substrate, 3-HPA, due to the reaction of 3-HPA with the thiol group of the cysteine residues. In this study, using site-directed mutagenesis, four cysteine residues in Klebsiella pneumoniae J2B DhaT were substituted to alanine, the amino acid commonly found in cysteine’s positions in other DhaT, individually and in combination. Among the total of 15 mutants developed, a double mutant (C28A_C107A) and a triple mutant (C28A_C93A_C107A) exhibited approximately 50 and 16% higher activity than the wild-type counterpart, respectively, after 1 h incubation with 10 mM 3-HPA. According to detailed kinetic studies, the double mutant had slightly better kinetic properties (Vmax, Kcat, and Km for both 3-HPA and NADH) than wild-type DhaT. This study shows that DhaT stability against 3-HPA can be increased by cysteine-residue removal, albeit to a limited extent.

Evaluation of Newly Isolated Klebsiella pneumoniae Strains for the Co-Production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid and 1,3-propanediol from Glycerol

Co-production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) and 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) was suggested as an innovative strategy to overcome several limitations occurring in the single production of 3-HP from glycerol. In this study, two new isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae, which produce less lipopolysaccharide (LPS) thus considered less pathogenic than K. pneumoniae DSM 2026, were compared and evaluated for their potential for the co-production of 3-HP and 1,3-PDO. The newly isolated strains showed significantly faster sedimentation rate than DSM, which should be beneficial for downstream processing. Analysis of genome sequences of the isolates confirmed the presence of all genes necessary for glycerol assimilation, 1,3-PDO production and biosynthesis of coenzyme B12. Co-production yield was highest under anaerobic condition while cell growth was highest under aerobic condition. Both strains showed similarly good performance for the co-production although J2B gave the slightly higher co-production yield of 0.80 mol/mol than GSC021 (0.75 mol/mol). The evaluation of the newly developed strains presented here should be useful in designing similar evaluation experiments for other microorganisms.