Glycolytic flux in Zymomonas mobilis: enzyme and metabolite levels during batch fermentation

The rate at which Z. mobilis (Entner-Doudoroff pathway) converts high concentrations of glucose (20%) into ethanol plus CO2 changes as ethanol accumulates in the surrounding broth. This decline in glycolytic activity (per milligram of cell protein) does not result from inhibitory effects of ethanol, which can be reversed immediately by ethanol removal. The peak of fermentative activity (58 mumol of CO2 evolved per mg of cell protein per h) occurred after the accumulation of 1.1% ethanol (18 h) and declined to one-half this rate after 30 h (6.2% accumulated ethanol), although the cell number continued to increase. These times corresponded to the end of exponential growth and to the onset of the stationary phase (on the basis of measurement of cell protein), respectively. An examination of many of the requirements for fermentation (nucleotides, magnesium, enzyme levels, intracellular pH, delta pH) revealed three possible reasons for this early decline in activity: decreased abundance of nucleotides, a decrease in internal pH from 6.3 to 5.3, and a decrease in the specific activities of two glycolytic enzymes (pyruvate kinase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase). 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of perchlorate extracts from cells fermenting in broth revealed very low levels of glycolytic intermediates (Entner-Doudoroff pathway) in cells examined at the peak of fermentative activity (18-h cells) in comparison with cells examined at a later stage (30-h cells), consistent with limitation of the fermentation rate by glycolytic enzymes near the end of the pathway. It is likely that cell death (loss of colony-forming ability) and the collapse of delta pH also contribute to the further decline in fermentative activity after 30 h.