Increasing the accuracy of mass isotopomer analysis through calibration curves constructed using biologically synthesized compounds

Central carbon metabolism influences cellulase production in Bacillus licheniformis

Bacillus licheniformis that can produce cellulase including endo glucanase and glucosidase is an important industrial microbe for cellulose degradation. The purpose of this research was to assess the effect of endo glucanase gene bglC and glucosidase gene bglH on the central metabolic flux in B. licheniformis. bglC and bglH were knocked out using homologous recombination method, respectively, and the corresponding knockout strains were obtained for ¹³ C metabolic flux analysis. A significant change was observed in metabolic fluxes after ¹³ C metabolic flux ratio analysis. In both of the knockout strains, the increased fluxes of the pentose phosphate pathway and malic enzyme reaction enabled an elevated supply of NADPH which provided enough reducing power for the in vivo synthesis reactions. The fluxes through tricarboxylic acid cycle and anaplerotic reactions increased fast in the two knockout strains, which meant more energy generated. The changed fluxes in central carbon metabolism provided a holistic view of the physiological status in B. licheniformis and possible targets for further strain engineering.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Cellulase is very important in the field of agriculture and bioenergy because of its degrading effect on cellulosic biomass. This study presented the effect of central carbon metabolism on cellulase production in Bacillus licheniformis. The study also provided a holistic view of the physiological status in B. licheniformis. The shifted metabolism provided a quantitative evaluation of the biosynthesis of cellulase and a priority ranked target list for further strain engineering.

Recent advances in high-throughput 13C-fluxomics

The rise of high throughput (HT) strain engineering tools accompanying the area of synthetic biology is supporting the generation of a large number of microbial cell factories. A current bottleneck in process development is our limited capacity to rapidly analyze the metabolic state of the engineered strains, and in particular their intracellular fluxes. HT ¹³C-fluxomics workflows have not yet become commonplace, despite the existence of several HT tools at each of the required stages. This includes cultivation and sampling systems, analytics for isotopic analysis, and software for data processing and flux calculation. Here, we review recent advances in the field and highlight bottlenecks that must be overcome to allow the emergence of true HT ¹³C-fluxomics workflows.

Metabolic engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for methionine production by removing feedback inhibition and increasing NADPH level

Relieving the feedback inhibition of key enzymes in a metabolic pathway is frequently the first step of producer-strain construction by genetic engineering. However, the strict feedback regulation exercised by microorganisms in methionine biosynthesis often makes it difficult to produce methionine at a high level. In this study, Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13032 was metabolically engineered for methionine production. First, the metD gene encoding the methionine uptake system was deleted to achieve extracellular accumulation of methionine. Then, random mutagenesis was performed to remove feedback inhibition by metabolic end-products. The resulting strain C. glutamicum ENM-16 was further engineered to block or decrease competitive branch pathways by deleting the thrB gene and changing the start codon of the dapA gene, followed by point mutations of lysC (C932T) and pyc (G1A, C1372T) to increase methionine precursor supply. To enrich the NADPH pool, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase in the pentose phosphate pathway were mutated to reduce their sensitivity to inhibition by intracellular metabolites. The resultant strain C. glutamicum LY-5 produced 6.85 ± 0.23 g methionine l(-1) with substrate-specific yield (Y P/S) of 0.08 mol per mol of glucose after 72 h fed-batch fermentation. The strategies described here will be useful for construction of methionine engineering strains.

Determination of isotopic labeling of proteins by precursor ion scanning liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry of derivatized amino acids applied to nuclear magnetic resonance studies

RATIONALE

A method has been developed for the quantitation of isotopic labeling of proteins using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for the application of protein nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies. NMR relies on specific isotopic nuclei, such as (13)C and (15)N, for detection and, therefore, isotopic labeling is an important sample preparation step prior to in-depth structural characterization of proteins. The goal of this study was to develop a robust quantitative assay for assessing isotopic labeling in proteins while retaining information on the extent of labeling for individual amino acids.

METHODS

Complete digestion of proteins by acid hydrolysis was followed by derivatization of free amino acids with 6-aminoquinolyl N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC) forming derivatives having identical MS/MS fragmentation behavior. Precursor ion scanning on a hybrid quadrupole-linear ion trap platform was used for amino acid analysis and determining isotopic labeling of proteins.

RESULTS

Using a set of isotope-labeled amino acid standards mixed with their unlabeled counterparts, the method was validated for accurately measuring % isotopic contribution. We then applied the method for determining the (13)C isotopic content of algal proteins during a feeding study using (13)C(6)-glucose- or (13)C-bicarbonate-supplemented culture media as well as the level of labeling in mussel byssal threads obtained after feeding with labeled algae.

CONCLUSIONS

This method is ideally suited for assessing the extent of protein labeling prior to NMR studies, where the isotopic labeling is a determining factor in the quality of resulting protein spectra, and can be applied to a multitude of different biological samples.

A systematic investigation of Escherichia coli central carbon metabolism in response to superoxide stress

Background

The cellular responses of bacteria to superoxide stress can be used to model adaptation to severe environmental changes. Superoxide stress promotes the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that have detrimental effects on cell metabolic and other physiological activities. To antagonize such effects, the cell needs to regulate a range of metabolic reactions in a coordinated way, so that coherent metabolic responses are generated by the cellular metabolic reaction network as a whole. In the present study, we have used a quantitative metabolic flux analysis approach, together with measurement of gene expression and activity of key enzymes, to investigate changes in central carbon metabolism that occur in Escherichia coli in response to paraquat-induced superoxide stress. The cellular regulatory mechanisms involved in the observed global flux changes are discussed.

Results

Flux analysis based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy (MS) measurements and computation provided quantitative results on the metabolic fluxes redistribution of the E. coli central carbon network under paraquat-induced oxidative stress. The metabolic fluxes of the glycolytic pathway were redirected to the pentose phosphate pathway (PP pathway). The production of acetate increased significantly, the fluxes associated with the TCA cycle decreased, and the fluxes in the glyoxylate shunt increased in response to oxidative stress. These global flux changes resulted in an increased ratio of NADPH:NADH and in the accumulation of α-ketoglutarate.

Conclusions

Metabolic flux analysis provided a quantitative and global picture of responses of the E. coli central carbon metabolic network to oxidative stress. Systematic adjustments of cellular physiological state clearly occurred in response to changes in metabolic fluxes induced by oxidative stress. Quantitative flux analysis therefore could reveal the physiological state of the cell at the systems level and is a useful complement to molecular systems approaches, such as proteomics and transcription analyses.