Co-expression of endoglucanase and β-glucosidase in Corynebacterium glutamicum DM1729 towards direct lysine fermentation from cellulose

The aim of the present study is the development of a consolidated bioprocess for the production of lysine with recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum DM1729 strains expressing endoglucanase and β-glucosidase genes. Here, the endoglucanase genes from Xanthomonas campestris XCC3521 and XCC2387 and betaglucosidase gene from Saccharophagus degradans Sde1394 were cloned in C. glutamicum DM1729 and expressed either extracellularly or on cell surface. The highest β-glucosidase activity of 9±0.5U/OD600 of 1 and endoglucanase activity of 5.5±0.8U was obtained in C. glutamicum DM 1729 (pVWEx1-TATXCC2387) (pEKEx3-PorC-Sde1394) when cellobiose (20g/L) alone or in combination with carboxymethyl cellulose (20g/L) was used as the carbon sources respectively. The overall efforts resulted in a lysine titre of 5.9±0.5mM. The ability of the constructs to utilize carboxymethyl cellulose and cellobiose for growth and amino acid production proves the concept of utilization of C. glutamicum as a biocatalyst in the lignocellulosic biorefinery.