Corynebacterium glutamicum shows great potential for the production of the glutamate-derived diamine putrescine, a monomeric compound of polyamides. A genome-scale stoichiometric model of a C. glutamicum strain with reduced ornithine transcarbamoylase activity, derepressed arginine biosynthesis, and an anabolic plasmid-addiction system for heterologous expression of E. coli ornithine decarboxylase gene speC was investigated by flux balance analysis with respect to its putrescine production potential. Based on these simulations, enhancing glycolysis and anaplerosis by plasmid-borne overexpression of the genes for glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and pyruvate carboxylase as well as reducing 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase activity were chosen as targets for metabolic engineering. Changing the translational start codon of the chromosomal gene for 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase subunit E1o to the less preferred TTG and changing threonine 15 of OdhI to alanine reduced 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase activity about five fold and improved putrescine titers by 28%. Additional engineering steps improved further putrescine production with the largest contributions from preventing the formation of the by-product N-acetylputrescine by deletion of spermi(di)ne N-acetyltransferase gene snaA and from overexpression of the gene for a feedback-resistant N-acetylglutamate kinase variant. The resulting C. glutamicum strain NA6 obtained by systems metabolic engineering accumulated two fold more putrescine than the base strain, i.e., 58.1 ± 0.2 mM, and showed a specific productivity of 0.045 g·g−1·h−1 and a yield on glucose of 0.26 g·g−1.
Terpenes are the largest class of natural products with extensive structural diversity and are widely used as pharmaceuticals, herbicides, flavourings, fragrances, and biofuels. While they have mostly been isolated from plants and fungi, the availability and analysis of bacterial genome sequence data indicates that bacteria also possess many putative terpene synthase genes. In this study, we further explore this potential for terpene synthase activity in bacteria. Twenty two potential class I terpene synthase genes (TSs) were selected to represent the full sequence diversity of bacterial synthase candidates and recombinantly expressed in E. coli. Terpene synthase activity was detected for 15 of these enzymes, and included mono-, sesqui-and diterpene synthase activities. A number of confirmed sesquiterpene synthases also exhibited promiscuous monoterpene synthase activity, suggesting that bacteria are potentially a richer source of monoterpene synthase activity then previously assumed. Several terpenoid products not previously detected in bacteria were identified, including aromandendrene, acora-3,7(14)-diene and longiborneol. Overall, we have identified promiscuous terpene synthases in bacteria and demonstrated that terpene synthases with substrate promiscuity are widely distributed in nature, forming a rich resource for engineering terpene biosynthetic pathways for biotechnology.
Terpenes are the largest class of natural products and are attractive targets in the fuel, fragrance, pharmaceutical, and flavor industries. Harvesting terpenes from natural sources is environmentally intensive and often gives low yields and purities, requiring further downstream processing. Engineered terpene synthases (TSs) offer a solution to these problems, but the low sequence identity and high promiscuity among TSs are major challenges for targeted engineering. Rational design of TSs requires identification of key structural and chemical motifs that steer product outcomes. Producing the sesquiterpenoid 10- epi -cubebol from farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) requires many steps and some of Nature’s most difficult chemistry. 10- epi -Cubebol synthase from Sorangium cellulosum (ScCubS) guides a highly reactive carbocationic substrate through this pathway, preventing early quenching and ensuring correct stereochemistry at every stage. The cyclizations carried out by ScCubS potentially represent significant evolutionary expansions in the chemical space accessible by TSs. Here, we present the high-resolution crystal structure of ScCubS in complex with both a trinuclear magnesium cluster and pyrophosphate. Computational modeling, experiment, and bioinformatic analysis identified residues important in steering the reaction chemistry. We show that S206 is crucial in 10- epi -cubebol synthesis by enlisting the nearby F211 to shape the active site contour and prevent the formation of early escape cadalane products. We also show that N327 and F104 control the distribution between several early-stage cations and whether the final product is derived from the germacrane, cadalane, or cubebane hydrocarbon scaffold. Using these insights, we reengineered ScCubS so that its main product was germacradien-4-ol, which derives from the germacrane, rather than the cubebane, scaffold. Our work emphasizes that mechanistic understanding of cation stabilization in TSs can be used to guide catalytic outcomes.
BackgroundCorynebacterium glutamicum cg1790/pgk encodes an enzyme active as a 3-phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) (EC 2.7.2.3) catalyzing phosphoryl transfer from 1,3-biphosphoglycerate (bPG) to ADP to yield 3-phosphoglycerate (3-PG) and ATP in substrate chain phosphorylation.ResultsC. glutamicum 3-phosphoglycerate kinase was purified to homogeneity from the soluble fraction of recombinant E. coli. PGKHis was found to be active as a homodimer with molecular weight of 104 kDa. The enzyme preferred conditions of pH 7.0 to 7.4 and required Mg2+ for its activity. PGKHis is thermo labile and it has shown maximal activity at 50–65°C. The maximal activity of PGKHis was estimated to be 220 and 150 U mg-1 with KM values of 0.26 and 0.11 mM for 3-phosphoglycerate and ATP, respectively. A 3-phosphoglycerate kinase negative C. glutamicum strain ∆pgk was constructed and shown to lack the ability to grow under glycolytic or gluconeogenic conditions unless PGK was expressed from a plasmid to restore growth. When pgk was overexpressed in L-arginine and L-ornithine production strains the production increased by 8% and by 17.5%, respectively.ConclusionUnlike many bacterial PGKs, C. glutamicum PGK is active as a homodimer. PGK is essential for growth of C. glutamicum with carbon sources requiring glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. Competitive inhibition by ADP reveals the critical role of PGK in gluconeogenesis by energy charge. Pgk overexpression improved the productivity in L-arginine and L-ornithine production strains.
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