Fermentative Production of l -Alanyl- l -Glutamine by a Metabolically Engineered Escherichia coli Strain Expressing l -Amino Acid α-Ligase

Abstract

ABSTRACT In spite of its clinical and nutritional importance, l -alanyl- l -glutamine (Ala-Gln) has not been widely used due to the absence of an efficient manufacturing method. Here, we present a novel method for the fermentative production of Ala-Gln using an Escherichia coli strain expressing l -amino acid α-ligase (Lal), which catalyzes the formation of dipeptides by combining two amino acids in an ATP-dependent manner. Two metabolic manipulations were necessary for the production of Ala-Gln: reduction of dipeptide-degrading activity by combinatorial disruption of the dpp and pep genes and enhancement of the supply of substrate amino acids by deregulation of glutamine biosynthesis and overexpression of heterologous l -alanine dehydrogenase (Ald). Since expression of Lal was found to hamper cell growth, it was controlled using a stationary-phase-specific promoter. The final strain constructed was designated JKYPQ3 ( pepA pepB pepD pepN dpp glnE glnB putA ) containing pPE167 ( lal and ald expressed under the control of the uspA promoter) or pPE177 ( lal and ald expressed under the control of the rpoH promoter). Either strain produced more than 100 mM Ala-Gln extracellularly, in fed-batch cultivation on glucose-ammonium salt medium, without added alanine and glutamine. Because of the characteristics of Lal, no longer peptides (such as tripeptides) or dipeptides containing d -amino acids were formed.