Erythritol is an important nutrient for several α-2 Proteobacteria, including N 2-fixing plant endosymbionts and Brucella, a worldwide pathogen that finds this four-carbon polyol in genital tissues. Erythritol metabolism involves phosphorylation to L-erythritol-4-phosphate by the kinase EryA and oxidation of the latter to L-3-tetrulose 4-phosphate by the dehydrogenase EryB. It is accepted that further steps involve oxidation by the putative dehydrogenase EryC and subsequent decarboxylation to yield triose-phosphates. Accordingly, growth on erythritol as the sole C source should require aldolase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase to produce essential hexose-6-monophosphate. However, we observed that a mutant devoid of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatases grew normally on erythritol and that EryC, which was assumed to be a dehydrogenase, actually belongs to the xylose isomerase superfamily. Moreover, we found that TpiA2 and RpiB, distant homologs of triose phosphate isomerase and ribose 5-phosphate isomerase B, were necessary, as previously shown for Rhizobium. By using purified recombinant enzymes, we demonstrated that L-3-tetrulose-4-phosphate was converted to D-erythrose 4-phosphate through three previously unknown isomerization reactions catalyzed by EryC (tetrulose-4-phosphate racemase), TpiA2 (D-3-tetrulose-4-phosphate isomerase; renamed EryH), and RpiB (D-erythrose-4-phosphate isomerase; renamed EryI), a pathway fully consistent with the isotopomer distribution of the erythrose-4-phosphate-derived amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine obtained from bacteria grown on 13 C-labeled erythritol. D-Erythrose-4-phosphate is then converted by enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and fructose 6-phosphate, thus bypassing fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase. This is the first description to our knowledge of a route feeding carbohydrate metabolism exclusively via D-erythrose 4-phosphate, a pathway that may provide clues to the preferential metabolism of erythritol by Brucella and its role in pathogenicity.rucellosis is a widespread bacterial zoonosis caused by the facultative intracellular pathogens Brucella spp. Domestic ruminants and swine, which altogether represent more than 4 billion animals worldwide, are highly susceptible, and in this livestock, the brucellae characteristically target the genital organs and cause abortion and infertility (1). Close to parturition, these bacteria reach exceedingly high numbers (up to 10 14 bacteria per conceptus) (2), thus making brucellosis abortion a highly contagious condition.It is accepted that this tropism and extensive multiplication relate to the high erythritol concentration in the genital organs of those animals (3, 4). In vitro, this four-carbon polyol is a preferential carbon source of Brucella, promotes growth, and up-regulates the expression of major virulence factors and key enzymes of central metabolism (5-9). In vivo, it has been observed that parenteral injections of erythritol increase the numbers of Brucella in the spleens of intraperitoneally...

In the present work the impact of large production scale was investigated for Bacillus megaterium expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP). Specifically designed scale-down studies, mimicking the intermittent and continuous nutrient supply of large- and small-scale processes, were carried out for this purpose. The recombinant strain revealed a 40% reduced GFP yield for the large-scale conditions. In line with extended carbon loss via formation of acetate and carbon dioxide, this indicated obvious limitations in the underlying metabolism of B. megaterium under the large-scale conditions. Quantitative analysis of intracellular amino acids via validated fast filtration protocols revealed that their level strongly differed between the two scenarios. During cultivation in large-scale set-up, the availability of most amino acids, serving as key building blocks of the recombinant protein, was substantially reduced. This was most pronounced for tryptophan, aspartate, histidine, glutamine, and lysine. In contrast alanine was increased, probably related to a bottleneck at the level of pyruvate which also triggered acetate overflow metabolism. The pre-cursor quantifications could then be exploited to verify the presumed bottlenecks and improve recombinant protein production under large-scale conditions. Addition of only 5 mM tryptophan, aspartate, histidine, glutamine, and lysine to the feed solution increased the GFP yield by 100%. This rational concept of driving the lab scale productivity of recombinant microorganisms under suboptimal feeding conditions emulating large scale can easily be extended to other processes and production hosts.

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Mechanistic understanding of the factors that govern host tropism remains incompletely understood for most pathogens. Brucella species, which are capable of infecting a wide range of hosts, offer a useful avenue to address this question. We hypothesized that metabolic fine-tuning to intrahost niches is likely an underappreciated axis underlying pathogens’ ability to infect new hosts and tropism. In this work, we compared the central metabolism of seven Brucella species by stable isotopic labeling and genetics. We identified two functionally distinct groups, one overlapping with the classical zoonotic species of domestic livestock that exclusively use the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) for hexose catabolism, whereas species from the second group use mostly the Entner–Doudoroff pathway (EDP). We demonstrated that the metabolic dichotomy among Brucellae emerged after the acquisition of two independent EDP-inactivating mutations in all classical zoonotic species. We then examined the pathogenicity of key metabolic mutants in mice and confirmed that this trait is tied to virulence. Altogether, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that the PPP has been incrementally selected over the EDP in parallel to Brucella adaptation to domestic livestock.

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Bacillus megaterium expressing a variant of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) was used to investigate the influence of gradients in dissolved oxygen (DO) and fructose concentration on biomass and product formation. For this purpose, several fed‐batch experiments with DO as feed control parameter were performed using suboptimal and optimal adjusted control parameters. In a first approach, suboptimal DO‐feeding was reached by varying randomly the controller output between 10 and 20% of the maximal pumping capacity. This led to fluctuations in DO between 20 and 80% and to substrate gradients around 3 g/L. GFP formation thereby was decreased. In a second approach, an optimal feeding profile was realized using a PI‐control with a constant controller output of 20% was used. Thereby no gradients in substrate concentration, but low‐amplitude and high‐frequency oscillations in the DO concentration were obtained, leading to increased GFP formation. In a final experimental approach, large‐scale conditions were emulated in a two‐compartment scale‐down system consisting of a 3.7‐L stirred tank reactor and a 0.7‐L non‐stirred vessel. DO‐based feeding was applied with the measurement in the 3.7‐L bioreactor and feeding in the small vessel. This setup led to a fairly constant gradient of 20% between both vessels, which also resulted in a decreased GFP productivity.