Two-Step Fed-Batch Culture of Recombinant Escherichia coli for Production of Bacillus licheniformis Maltogenic Amylase

Two-step fed-batch fermentations were carried out to overproduce Bacillus licheniformis maltogenic amylase (BLMA) in recombinant Escherichia coli. The first step was to increase the cell mass by controlling the feeding of a glucose solution, while the second step was designed to improve the amylase expression efficiency by supplementing organic nitrogen sources. The linear gradient feeding method was successfully adopted to maintain the glucose concentration below 0.2 g/l during the fed-batch mode, as effectively minimizing acetic acid formation. When the dissolved oxygen (DO) level became limiting, an accumulation of acetic acid and drastic decrease in specific BLMA productivity were observed. Glucose and organic nitrogen sources consisting of yeast extract and casein hydrolysate were simultaneously supplied in the pH-stat mode to further increase the specific BLMA expression efficiency. An organic nitrogen source consisting of 200 g/1 yeast extract and 100 g/1 casein hydrolysate was found to be the best among the various combinations tested. The feeding of an organic nitrogen source in the second-step fed-batch period was highly beneficial in enhancing the BLMA production. The optimized two-step fed-batch culture resulted in 78 g/l maximum dry cell mass and 443 U/ml maximum BLMA activity, corresponding to 1.5-fold increase in the dry cell mass and 3.7-fold enhancement in BLMA production, compared with the simple fed-batch fermentation.