Bidirectional switching of carbon flux between glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway by oxygen level in Corynebacterium glutamicum

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K14866
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biofunction/Bioprocess
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Tsuge Yota 金沢大学, 新学術創成研究機構, 助教 (00647422)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 代謝スイッチ / コリネ型細菌

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Controlling carbon flow in the metabolic pathway is critically important for improving production titer and yield in metabolic engineering. When synthesizing target chemicals from glucose, carbon is firstly passed through either glycolysis or pentose phosphate pathway. The split ratio between glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway largely affects the titer and yield of the target chemicals. Here, we demonstrate that the switching of the carbon flow between glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway by oxygen level in Corynebacterium glutamicum. By using the metabolic switch, cadaverine and succinate were efficiently produced under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively. This approach is a useful and practical strategy to automatically redirect carbon flow into a desirable metabolic pathway using environmental factor as a metabolic switch.

Free Research Field

代謝工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では酸素という環境因子をスイッチとして用いることで、微生物の中央代謝経路を酸素レベルに応答して自動的に切り換える回路を設計した。本システムを用いることで、樹脂原料として注目されているカダベリンとコハク酸を好気条件下と嫌気条件下で効率的に生産する菌株を作製することに成功した。本システムで確立した代謝スイッチは他の有用化合物の生産にも利用可能であるため、高い汎用性を持つと考えられる。