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Published on: November 16, 2012
An Engineered Microbial Consortium Provides Precursors for Fengycin Production by Bacillus subtilis
Si-Yu Wei1, Geng-Rong Gao1, Ming-Zhu Ding1
1Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, 135 Yaguan Road, Jinnan District, Tianjin 300350, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Fengycin has great potential for applications in biological control because of its biosafety and degradability. In this study, the addition of exogenous precursors increased fengycin production by Bacillus subtilis. Corynebacterium glutamicum was engineered to produce high levels of precursors (Thr, Pro, Val, and Ile) to promote the biosynthesis of fengycin. Furthermore, recombinant C. glutamicum and Yarrowia lipolytica providing amino acid and fatty acid precursors were co-cultured to improve fengycin production by B. subtilis in a three-strain artificial consortium, in which fengycin production was 2100 mg·L-1. In addition, fengycin production by the consortium in a 5 L bioreactor reached 3290 mg·L-1. Fengycin had a significant antifungal effect on Rhizoctonia solani, which illustrates its potential as a food preservative. Taken together, this work provides a new strategy for improving fengycin production by a microbial consortium and metabolic engineering.
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