Production of L-Ornithine by Citrulline Auxotrophic Mutants of Glutamate-Producing Bacteria

For the purpose of producing L-ornithine by microbial fermentation, mutant strains were developed from glutamate-producing bacteria by mutagenesis using N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG) and UV irradiation. Brevibacterium ketoglutamicum BK1046, a L-citrulline auxotroph which is also resistant to arginine hydroxamate (Arghx), was isolated and selected as the best producer of L-ornithine. This strain was capable of producing L-ornithine at a concentration of 24 g/l after 69 hours of cultivation in the 21 jar fermentor. The optimum supplementary level of L-arginine, a substitute for L-citrulline, was found to be about 0.2 g/l in the shake-flask fermentation.