Regulatory effects of oxygen transfer on overexpression of recombinant benzaldehyde lyase production byEscherichia coliBL21 (DE3)

Improved Production of Recombinant Human β-NGF in Escherichia coli - a Bioreactor Scale Study

Human nerve growth factor β (β-NGF) is considered a major therapeutic agent for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. We have previously reported the optimized conditions for β-NGF overproduction in Escherichia coli in a shake-flask culture. In this study the optimal %DO (dissolved oxygen) and post induction temperature values for improved production of β-NGF were found in the bioreactor scale using response surface methodology (RSM) as the most common statistical method. Also, for further enhancement of the yield, different post-induction periods of time were selected for testing. In all experiments, the productivity level and bacterial cell growth were evaluated by western blotting technique and monitoring of absorbance at 600 nm, respectively. Our results indicated that %DO, the post-induction time and temperature have significant effects on the production of β-NGF. After 2 hours of induction, the low post induction temperature of 32°C and 20% DO were used to increase the production of β-NGF in a 5-l bioreactor. Another important result obtained in this study was that the improved β-NGF production was not achieved at highest dry cell weigh or highest cell growth. These results are definitely of importance for industrial β-NGF production.

Improved curdlan fermentation process based on optimization of dissolved oxygen combined with pH control and metabolic characterization of Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749

A significant problem in scale-down cultures, rarely studied for metabolic characterization and curdlan-producing Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749, is the presence of dissolved oxygen (DO) gradients combined with pH control. Constant DO, between 5% and 75%, was maintained during batch fermentations by manipulating the agitation with PID system. Fermentation, metabolic and kinetic characterization studies were conducted in a scale-down system. The curdlan yield, intracellular nucleotide levels and glucose conversion efficiency into curdlan were significantly affected by DO concentrations. The optimum DO concentrations for curdlan production were 45-60%. The average curdlan yield, curdlan productivity and glucose conversion efficiency into curdlan were enhanced by 80%, 66% and 32%, respectively, compared to that at 15% DO. No apparent difference in the gel strength of the resulting curdlan was detected. The comparison of curdlan biosynthesis and cellular nucleotide levels showed that curdlan production had positive relationship with intracellular levels of UTP, ADP, AMP, NAD(+), NADH and UDP-glucose. The curdlan productivity under 45% DO and 60% DO was different during 20-50 h. However, after 60 h curdlan productivity of both conditions was similar. On that basis, a simple and reproducible two-stage DO control process for curdlan production was developed. Curdlan production yield reached 42.8 g/l, an increase of 30% compared to that of the single agitation speed control process.