Metabolic Flux Distribution in a Metabolically Engineered Escherichia coli Strain Producing Succinic Acid

Escherichia cole NZN111, which is known as a pfl ldhA double mutant strin, was metabolically engineered to produce succinic acid by overexpressing malic enzyme into the E. coli controlled by a trc promoter. Fermentation studies were carried out in a LB medium by first growing cells aerobically to an $OD_{600}$ of 5. At this point, 0.01 mM IPTG was added to induce the overexpression of malic enzyme and the agitation speed was gradually lowered. When the culture $OD_{600}$ reached 11, a complete anaerobic condition was achieved by flushing with a $CO_3-H_2$ gas mixture. When NZN111(pTrcML) was cultured at $37^{\circ}C$, the final succinic acid concentration of 2.8 g/l could be obtained after 30 h of anaerobic cultivation. The fermentation results were analyzed by the calculation of metabolic fluxes. Metaolic flux analysis showed that about 85% of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) was converted to pyruvate, and further converted to malic acid by malic enzyme.