摘要
Klebsiella pneumoniae produces many economically important chemicals. Using glucose as a carbon source, the main metabolic product in K. pneumoniae is 2,3-butanediol. Gluconic acid is an intermediate of the glucose oxidation pathway. In the current study, a metabolic engineering strategy was used to develop a gluconic acid-producing K. pneumoniae strain. Deletion of gad, resulting in loss of gluconate dehydrogenase activity, led to the accumulation of gluconic acid in the culture broth. Gluconic acid accumulation by K. pneumoniae Delta gad was an acid-dependent aerobic process, with accumulation observed at pH 5.5 or lower, and at higher levels of oxygen supplementation. Under all other conditions tested, 2,3-butanediol was the main metabolic product of the process. In fed batch fermentation, a final concentration of 422 g/L gluconic acid was produced by K. pneumoniae Delta gad, and the conversion ratio of glucose to gluconic acid reached 1 g/g. The K. pneumoniae Delta gad described in this study is the first genetically modified strain used for gluconic acid production, and this optimized method for gluconic acid production may have important industrial applications.
