JP4720114B2 - Method for producing oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivative - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for efficiently producing oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative by fermentation using gram-positive bacteria such as coryneform bacteria.

  When producing oxaloacetic acid derivatives such as succinic acid by fermentation, anaerobic bacteria such as Anaerobiospirillum genus and Actinobacillus genus are usually used (Patent Document 1 or Non-Patent Documents). 1). When anaerobic bacteria are used, the yield of the product is high, but on the other hand, a large amount of organic nitrogen sources such as CSL (corn steep liquor) in the medium because it requires many nutrients to grow. Need to be added. Adding a large amount of these organic nitrogen sources not only leads to an increase in culture medium cost, but also increases the purification cost when taking out the product, which is not economical.

  There is also a method of culturing aerobic bacteria such as coryneform bacteria once under aerobic conditions, growing the cells, collecting and washing, and producing succinic acid as a stationary cell without aeration of oxygen Known (see Patent Document 2 or 3). In this case, the amount of organic nitrogen added may be small in order to grow the bacterial cells, and it is economical because it can be sufficiently grown on a simple medium. However, the amount of produced succinic acid, the production concentration, and the bacterial cells There was room for improvement such as improvement of the production speed and simplification of the manufacturing process.

  In addition, when aerobic bacteria typified by coryneform bacteria are cultured under oxygen-restricted conditions, organic acids other than the target substance such as lactic acid and acetic acid will accumulate excessively as by-products, suppressing bacterial cell growth and producing fermentation. Is significantly reduced. Also, an excessive counter ion for neutralizing the by-product organic acid is required, which is not economical. In order to solve such problems, by-product lactic acid has been reduced by using coryneform bacteria with reduced lactate dehydrogenase activity (see Patent Document 4).

  However, a significant amount of acetic acid is by-produced even in the coryneform bacterium having reduced lactate dehydrogenase activity. Since Escherichia bacteria are well known for the pathways of biosynthesis and metabolism of acetic acid (Non-patent Document 2), the expression of acetic acid assimilation gene (aceP) has been used as a solution to reduce acetic acid in cultures. There are known a method for enhancing the expression (see Patent Document 5), a method for enhancing the expression of a gene encoding the ACE protein (see Patent Document 6), and the like. These are intended to reduce the amount of acetic acid by-produced by actively assimilating the acetic acid released into the culture medium. In addition, in Escherichia bacteria, a method of deleting phosphoacetyltransferase (PTA) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is known as a method of suppressing by-product acetic acid by weakening the biosynthesis of acetic acid (see Patent Document 7). It has been.

On the other hand, the presence of PTA is also known in coryneform bacteria, and the pta gene forms an operon with the acetate kinase (ack) gene (Non-patent Document 3). According to Table 2 of this document, it can be seen that in coryneform bacteria, not only PTA activity but also ACK activity are reduced by disruption of the pta gene. However, this document does not describe the effects of disrupting the pta gene and ack gene on the ability of bacteria to produce acetic acid and oxaloacetic acid derivatives, and the metabolic pathway of gram-positive bacteria such as coryneform bacteria Since it is more complex than Escherichia bacteria, it was unclear whether reducing the activity of PTA would reduce the ability to produce acetic acid.
US Pat. No. 5,504,004 JP-A-11-113588 JP 11-196888 A JP-A-11-206385 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-14781 JP-A-7-67683 WO99 / 06532 pamphlet International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, vol. 49, p207-216, 1999 Cellular and Molecular Biology, (1996), 1, p1672-1682 Microbiology. 1999 Feb; 145 (Pt 2): 503-13

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently producing oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative by reducing by-products such as acetic acid by fermentation production using Gram-positive bacteria.

  As a result of intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors found that acetic acid by-product was reduced by reducing the activity of acetate kinase and phosphotransacetylase in Gram-positive bacteria such as coryneform bacteria. As a result, it was found that oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivatives can be produced efficiently, and the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention is as follows.
(1) has an ability to produce succinic acid, and modified to both the activity of acetate kinase and phosphorylase photo lance deacetylase is reduced as compared with an unmodified strain, addition, lactate dehydrogenase activity, the A coryneform bacterium modified so as to be reduced compared to an unmodified strain of an enzyme or a treated product thereof is allowed to act on the organic raw material in a reaction solution containing the organic raw material and ammonium hydrogen carbonate under anaerobic conditions. A method for producing succinic acid, comprising producing and accumulating succinic acid in the reaction solution or in the fungus body, and collecting succinic acid from the reaction solution or the fungus body.
(2) The production method according to (1), wherein the bacterium is further modified so that pyruvate carboxylase activity is enhanced as compared with an unmodified strain of the enzyme.
(3) The production method according to (1) or (2), wherein the organic material is one or more organic materials selected from the group consisting of glucose, fructose, and sucrose.
(4) Succinic acid comprising a step of producing succinic acid by the method according to any one of (1) to (3) and a step of performing a polymerization reaction using succinic acid obtained in the step as a raw material. A method for producing a polymer to be contained.

  According to the present invention, in the fermentative production of oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative, by-products of organic acids such as acetic acid can be reduced, and oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivatives can be efficiently produced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

  The bacterium used in the present invention has the ability to produce oxaloacetate or oxaloacetate derivatives, and the activity of one or both of acetate kinase and phosphotransacetylase is reduced as compared to the unmodified strain. Gram-positive bacteria modified to

  In the present invention, “the ability to produce oxaloacetate or an oxaloacetate derivative” refers to the ability to accumulate oxaloacetate or an oxaloacetate derivative in the medium when the bacterium of the present invention is cultured. Further, the term “oxaloacetic acid derivative” refers to an organic acid that is a metabolic intermediate of the TCA cycle, and an L-amino acid synthesized from them (excluding L-glutamic acid), such as succinic acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, Citric acid, isocitric acid, 2-oxoglutaric acid, cis-aconitic acid, L-aspartic acid, L-lysine and the like can be mentioned, among which succinic acid is more preferable. The bacterium used in the present invention may have the ability to produce two or more of oxaloacetic acid and oxaloacetic acid derivatives. The ability to produce oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative may be a property inherent in bacteria, but may also be a property imparted by breeding by mutation treatment or gene recombination.

  Examples of Gram-positive bacteria used in the present invention include coryneform bacteria, Bacillus bacteria, Rhizobium bacteria, Lactobacillus bacteria, Actinobacillus bacteria, and Succinobacillus bacteria. More specifically, the Actinobacillus bacterium includes Actinobacillus succinogenes (International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, 1999, 49, 0207-216), and the Lactobacillus bacterium includes Lactobacillus helveticus (J Appl Microbiol, 2001, 91, p846-852). Examples of coryneform bacteria include the following bacteria.

In the present invention, the “coryneform bacterium” has been conventionally classified into the genus Brevibacterium, but includes bacteria that are currently classified into the genus Corynebacterium (Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 41, 255). (1981)), and Brevibacterium spp. Closely related to the genus Corynebacterium. Examples of such coryneform bacteria include the following.
Corynebacterium acetoacidophilum Corynebacterium acetoglutamicum Corynebacterium alkanolyticum Corynebacterium carnae Corynebacterium glutamicum Corynebacterium lylium Corynebacterium merasecola Corynebacterium thermoaminogenes Coryne Bacterium Herculis Brevibacterium divaricatam Brevibacterium flavum Brevibacterium immariophyllum Brevibacterium lactofermentum Brevibacterium roseum Brevibacterium saccharolyticum Brevibacterium thiogenitalis Corynebacterium・ Ammonia Genes Brevibacterium album Brevibacterium cerinum Microbacteria Ammonia film

  In order to confer the production of oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivatives to the above-mentioned bacteria by breeding, acquisition of metabolic control mutants, creation of recombinant strains with enhanced biosynthetic enzymes of the desired oxaloacetic acid derivatives Conventionally, methods that have been conventionally employed for breeding coryneform bacteria can be applied (see Amino Acid Fermentation, Japan Society for Publishing Press, May 30, 1986, first edition, pages 77 to 100). In the breeding of oxaloacetate or oxaloacetate derivative-producing bacteria, properties such as imparted metabolic control mutations and enhanced target substance biosynthetic enzymes may be single, or two or more types may be used. . Addition of properties such as metabolic control mutations and enhancement of biosynthetic enzymes may be combined. Examples of biosynthetic enzymes of oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivatives include pyruvate carboxylase as described below.

  Specific examples of coryneform bacteria having succinic acid-producing ability among gram-positive bacteria having ability to produce oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivatives include the following. Brevibacterium flavum MJ233Δldh strain with reduced lactate dehydrogenase activity (JP-A-11-206385), Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / pPCPYC strain with enhanced pyruvate carboxylase or phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity (International Publication) No. 01/27258 pamphlet, JP-A-11-196877), Brevibacterium flavum MJ-233 (FERM BP-1497), MJ-233 AB-41 (FERM BP-1498), Brevibacterium Ammonia Genes ATCC 6872, Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 31831, Brevibacterium lactofermentum ATCC 13869 and the like. Brevibacterium flavum is currently classified as Corynebacterium glutamicum (Lielbl, W., Ehrmann, M., Ludwig, W. and Schleifer, KH, International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, 1991 , vol. 41, p255-260), in the present invention, the aforementioned Brevibacterium flavum MJ-233 strain and its mutant MJ-233 AB-41 strain are the Corynebacterium glutamicum MJ-233 strain, respectively. And MJ-233 AB-41 strain. In the present invention, Gram-positive bacteria having the ability to produce oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivatives are not limited to those described above, and succinic acid-producing bacteria, malic acid-producing bacteria, and fumaric acid-producing bacteria obtained by known methods. Citric acid-producing bacteria, isocitrate-producing bacteria, lysine-producing bacteria, aspartic acid-producing bacteria, and the like can be used. Examples of lysine-producing bacteria include Corynebacterium glutamicum B-6 and AHD-2 (App Microbiol Biotechnol, 2002, 58, p217-223).

The bacterium used in the production method of the present invention is a Gram-positive bacterium having the ability to produce oxaloacetate or an oxaloacetate derivative as described above, and either or both of acetate kinase (ACK) and phosphotransacetylase (PTA). Can be obtained by modifying so that the activity of is reduced compared to the unmodified strain. However, in breeding the coryneform bacterium of the present invention, either of giving the ability to produce oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative or modifying to reduce PTA and / or ACK activity may be performed first.
Acetic acid is produced from acetyl-CoA, which is an intermediate in the biosynthesis pathway of oxaloacetate and oxaloacetate derivatives, via PTA and ACK. Therefore, in order to block the acetic acid synthesis pathway and reduce the byproduct of acetic acid, PTA Alternatively, the activity of either ACK may be reduced, but it is more preferable to reduce both activities.

“Phosphotransacetylase (PTA) activity” refers to the activity of catalyzing the reaction of transferring phosphate to acetyl-CoA to produce acetyl phosphate. “Modified to decrease PTA activity” means that the PTA activity is lower than the specific activity of an unmodified strain, for example, a gram-positive bacterium of a wild strain. The PTA activity is preferably reduced to 30% or less per microbial cell, and more preferably 10% or less per microbial cell, compared to the unmodified strain. Moreover, PTA activity may be completely lost. The decrease in PTA activity is due to the method of Klotzsch et al. (Klotzsch,
HR, Meth Enzymol. 12, 381-386 (1969)), and can be confirmed by measuring PTA activity.

  Examples of the PTA having the above activity include PTA of Corynebacterium glutamicum, and preferably a protein having the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 14. In addition, as long as it has PTA activity, PTA of Corynebacterium glutamicum has an amino acid sequence containing one or several amino acid substitutions, deletions, insertions or additions in the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 14. It may be. Here, several means, for example, 2 to 20, preferably 2 to 10, more preferably 2 to 5.

  “Acetate kinase (ACK) activity” refers to the activity of catalyzing the reaction of producing acetic acid from acetyl phosphate and ADP. “Modified to decrease ACK activity” means that the ACK activity is lower than the specific activity of an unmodified strain, for example, a wild-type Gram-positive bacterium. The ACK activity is preferably reduced to 30% or less per microbial cell, and more preferably 10% or less per microbial cell, compared to the unmodified strain. Further, the ACK activity may be completely lost. The decrease in ACK activity can be confirmed by measuring the ACK activity by the method of Ramponi et al. (Ramponi G., Meth. Enzymol. 42, 409-426 (1975)).

  Examples of the ACK having the above activity include ACK of Corynebacterium glutamicum, and preferably a protein having the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 15. In addition, as long as it has ACK activity, ACK of Corynebacterium glutamicum has an amino acid sequence including substitution, deletion, insertion, or addition of one or several amino acids in the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 15. It may be. Here, several means, for example, 2 to 20, preferably 2 to 10, more preferably 2 to 5.

  For the strains with reduced ACK or PTA activity, the parent strain is treated with a mutagen that is commonly used for mutagenesis such as N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG) or nitrous acid, Can be obtained by selecting strains with reduced In addition, the enzyme activity may be reduced by modifying using a gene encoding PTA or ACK. Specifically, this can be achieved by destroying a gene encoding PTA or ACK on the chromosome, or modifying an expression regulatory sequence such as a promoter or Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence. When performing gene disruption, either the pta gene or the ack gene may be disrupted, or both may be disrupted. In Corynebacterium glutamicum (including those classified as Brevibacterium flavum), the pta gene is disrupted as described in Microbiology. 1999 Feb; 145 (Pt 2): 503-13. In this case, the activities of both PTA and ACK enzymes can be reduced.

Hereinafter, a method for disrupting the pta gene in coryneform bacteria will be described. Examples of the pta gene on the chromosome include DNA containing a base sequence consisting of base numbers 1 to 1383 of SEQ ID NO: 13. The pta gene is obtained by synthesizing a synthetic oligonucleotide based on the above sequence and using the chromosome of Corynebacterium glutamicum as a template.
Cloning can be performed by performing an R reaction. In addition, sequences of coryneform bacteria such as Brevibacterium lactofermentum whose base sequences have been determined by the genome project in recent years can also be used. Chromosomal DNA is obtained from bacteria that are DNA donors, for example, the method of Saito and Miura (H. Saito and K. Miura, Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 72, 619 (1963), Biotechnology Experiments, Nippon Biotechnology, Ed., Pp. 97-98, Bafukan, 1992).

  The pta gene prepared as described above or a part thereof can be used for gene disruption. However, since the gene used for gene disruption only needs to have a degree of homology that causes homologous recombination with the pta gene on the chromosomal DNA of the coryneform bacterium to be disrupted, such a homologous gene can also be used. it can. Here, the homology that causes homologous recombination is preferably 70% or more, more preferably 80% or more, still more preferably 90% or more, and particularly preferably 95% or more. In addition, homologous recombination can occur if the DNAs can hybridize with each other under stringent conditions. “Stringent conditions” refers to conditions under which so-called specific hybrids are formed and non-specific hybrids are not formed. Although it is difficult to quantify this condition clearly, for example, it corresponds to 60 ° C., 1 × SSC, 0.1% SDS, preferably 0.1 × SSC, 0.1% SDS. A condition of washing once at a salt concentration, more preferably 2 to 3 times may be mentioned.

  Using the gene as described above, for example, deleting a partial sequence of the pta gene, producing a deleted pta gene modified so as not to produce a normally functioning PTA, and coryneform with the DNA containing the gene By transforming bacteria and causing recombination between the deleted gene and the gene on the chromosome, the pta gene on the chromosome can be destroyed. Such gene disruption by gene replacement using homologous recombination has already been established, and includes a method using linear DNA and a method using a plasmid containing a temperature-sensitive replication origin (US Pat. No. 6,303,383). Or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-007491). Further, gene disruption by gene replacement using homologous recombination as described above can also be performed using a plasmid that does not have replication ability on the host.

  In order to replace the deletion-type pta gene with the pta gene on the host chromosome, for example, the following may be performed. First, a recombination plasmid is prepared by inserting a marker gene exhibiting drug resistance, such as a temperature-sensitive replication origin, a deletion-type pta gene, a sacB gene encoding levanshuclease, and chloramphenicol.

Here, the sacB gene encoding levansucrase is a gene used to efficiently select a strain from which the vector portion has been dropped from the chromosome (Schafer, A. et al. Gene
145 (1994) 69-73). That is, in coryneform bacteria, when levan sucrose is expressed, levan produced by assimilating sucrose works lethally and cannot grow. Therefore, if a strain loaded with levan sucrose is left on the chromosome, the strain cannot be grown on the sucrose-containing plate, and only the strain from which the vector has been dropped can be selected on the sucrose-containing plate.

As the sacB gene or a homologous gene thereof, a gene having the following sequence can be used. Bacillus subtilis: sacB GenBank Accession Number X02730 (SEQ ID NO: 18)
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens: sacB GenBank Accession Number X52988
Zymomonas Mobilis: sacB GenBank Accession Number L33402
Bacillus stearothermophilus: surB GenBank Accession Number U34874
Lactobacillus san francisensis: frfA GenBank Accession Number AJ508391
Acetobacter xylinus: lsxA GenBank Accession Number AB034152
Glucon Acetobacter diazotrophicus: lsdA GenBank Accession Number L41732

  Next, a coryneform bacterium is transformed with the recombinant plasmid. The transformation may be performed according to the transformation methods reported so far. For example, a method of treating recipient cells with calcium chloride to increase DNA permeability as reported for Escherichia coli K-12 (Mandel, M. and Higa, A., J. Mol. Biol , 53, 159 (1970)), and a method for preparing competent cells from proliferating cells and introducing DNA as reported for Bacillus subtilis (Dancan, CH, Wilson, GA and Young, FE, Gene, 1,153 (1977)). Alternatively, DNA recipient cells such as those known for Bacillus subtilis, actinomycetes and yeast can be introduced by introducing recombinant DNA into the DNA recipient (Chang. S. and Choen, SN, Molec. Gen. Genet. , 168, 111 (1979); Bibb, MJ, Ward, JM and Hopwood, OA, Nature, 274, 398 (1978); Hinnen, A., Hicks, JB and Fink, GR, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 75 1929 (1978)) can also be applied. Further, transformation of coryneform bacteria can also be performed by the electric pulse method (Sugimoto et al., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-207791).

  Examples of temperature sensitive plasmids for coryneform bacteria include p48K and pSFKT2 (see JP 2000-262288 A), pHSC4 (see French Patent Publication 1992 2667875, JP 5-7491 A) and the like. . These plasmids can replicate autonomously in coryneform bacteria at least at 25 ° C, but cannot replicate at 37 ° C. Escherichia coli AJ12571, which holds pHSC4, was founded on October 11, 1990 at the Institute of Biotechnology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (currently the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Patent Microorganism Depositary Center) (〒305-5466 Japan) Deposited as FERM P-11763 in Tsukuba City, Higashi 1-chome, 1-chome, Central Ibaraki Pref. 6), transferred to the international deposit under the Budapest Treaty on August 26, 1991, under the accession number FERM BP-3524 It has been deposited.

  The transformant obtained as described above is cultured at a temperature at which the temperature-sensitive replication origin does not function (25 ° C.) to obtain a strain into which the plasmid has been introduced. The plasmid-introduced strain is cultured at a high temperature to remove the temperature-sensitive plasmid, and this strain is applied to a plate containing antibiotics. Because temperature-sensitive plasmids cannot replicate at high temperatures, strains that have lost the plasmid cannot grow on plates containing antibiotics, but only rarely recombine with the gene on the plasmid and the pta gene on the chromosome. The strain that caused

  In this way, a strain in which the recombinant DNA is integrated into the chromosome undergoes recombination with the pta gene sequence originally present on the chromosome, and two fusion genes of the chromosomal pta gene and the deleted pta gene are recombinant DNA. The other part (vector part, temperature sensitive replication origin and drug resistance marker) is inserted between the chromosomes.

  Next, in order to leave only the deletion-type pta gene on the chromosomal DNA, the vector portion (including a temperature-sensitive replication origin and a drug resistance marker) is removed from the chromosomal DNA. At that time, a normal pta gene is left on the chromosomal DNA and the deleted pta gene is excised, and conversely, the deleted pta gene is left on the chromosomal DNA and the normal pta gene is excised. is there. In either case, if the cells are cultured at a temperature at which the temperature-sensitive replication origin functions, the excised DNA is retained in the cell in the form of a plasmid. Next, when cultured at a temperature at which the temperature-sensitive replication origin does not function, the pta gene on the plasmid is removed from the cell together with the plasmid. A strain in which the pta gene is disrupted can be obtained by selecting a strain in which the deletion-type pta gene remains on the chromosome by PCR or Southern hybridization.

It should be noted that the same gene disruption can be performed by using a plasmid that does not have replication ability in coryneform bacteria in place of the temperature-sensitive plasmid. A plasmid that does not have replication ability in coryneform bacteria is preferably a plasmid that has replication ability in Escherichia coli, and examples thereof include pHSG299 (manufactured by Takara Bio Inc.), pHSG399 (manufactured by Takara Bio Inc.), and the like.

  On the other hand, when the activity is decreased by ACK alone, it may be modified using the ack gene. Examples of the ack gene include a gene having a nucleotide sequence of nucleotide numbers 1386 to 2579 of SEQ ID NO: 13. In addition, a gene having homology to the sequence of SEQ ID NO. Can be used to the extent that homologous recombination occurs with the ack gene on the chromosome. Here, the homology that causes homologous recombination is preferably 70% or more, more preferably 80% or more, still more preferably 90% or more, and particularly preferably 95% or more. In addition, homologous recombination can occur if the DNAs can hybridize with each other under stringent conditions. “Stringent conditions” refers to conditions under which so-called specific hybrids are formed and non-specific hybrids are not formed. Although it is difficult to quantify this condition clearly, for example, it corresponds to 60 ° C., 1 × SSC, 0.1% SDS, preferably 0.1 × SSC, 0.1% SDS. A condition of washing once at a salt concentration, more preferably 2 to 3 times may be mentioned. Using such an ack gene, gene disruption and the like can be performed by the same method as the pta gene.

  In this reaction, it is more effective to use a bacterial strain modified so that lactate dehydrogenase (hereinafter sometimes referred to as LDH) activity is decreased in addition to the above-described decrease in PTA and / or ACK activity. The lactate dehydrogenase activity means an activity of catalyzing a reaction in which NADH is used as a coenzyme to reduce pyruvic acid to produce lactic acid. “Lactate dehydrogenase activity is reduced” means that LDH activity is reduced as compared with an unmodified LDH strain. The LDH activity may be reduced as compared with the non-modified LDH strain and the wild strain, but is preferably reduced by 30% per bacterial cell, more preferably less than 10% per bacterial cell. preferable. Also, LDH activity may be completely lost. The decrease in LDH activity can be confirmed by measuring LDH activity by the method of L. Kanarek et al. (L. Kanarek and R.L.Hill, J. Biol. Chem. 239, 4202 (1964)). . The coryneform bacterium of the present invention can be obtained by preparing a coryneform bacterium having a decreased LDH activity and further modifying it so that the activity of PTA and / or ACK is decreased. However, either the modification for reducing the LDH activity or the modification for reducing the activity of PTA and / or ACK may be performed first. As the ldh gene, for example, a gene having the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 16 can be used, and gene disruption and the like can be performed by the same method as the pta gene.

  In this reaction, a bacterium modified so that the activity of pyruvate carboxylase (hereinafter referred to as PC) is increased in addition to the decrease in the activity of PTA and / or ACK may be used. “The activity of pyruvate carboxylase is enhanced” means that the activity of PC is increased relative to an unmodified strain such as a wild strain or a parent strain. The activity of PC can be measured by the method of Peters-Wendisch P.G et al. (Peters-Wendisch P.G. et al. Microbiology 143, 1095-1103 (1997)).

The pc gene encoding the PC protein used in the method of the present invention is a gene whose base sequence has already been determined, or a DNA fragment encoding a protein having PC activity by a method as described below, Those isolated from chromosomes such as animals and plants and whose base sequence has been determined can be used. In addition, after the base sequence is determined, a gene synthesized according to the sequence can be used. For example, the pyruvate carboxylase gene (GenBank Accession No. NCgl0659) of Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC13032 can be used. In addition, PC genes derived from the following organisms can also be used.
Human [Biochem.Biophys.Res.Comm., 202, 1009-1014, (1994)]
Mouse [Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA., 90, 1766-1779, (1993)]
Rat [GENE, 165, 331-332, (1995)]
Yeast; Saccharomyces cerevisiae
[Mol.Gen.Genet., 229, 307-315, (1991)]
Schizosaccharomyces pombe
[DDBJ Accession No .; D78170]
Bacillus stearothermophilus
[GENE, 191, 47-50, (1997)]
Rhizobium etli
[J. Bacteriol., 178, 5960-5970, (1996)]

  The DNA fragment containing the pc gene can be expressed by inserting it into an appropriate expression plasmid, such as pUC118 (Takara Bio) and introducing it into an appropriate host microorganism, such as Escherichia coli JM109 (Takara Bio). it can. Confirmation of the expressed pc gene product pyruvate carboxylase is carried out by measuring the PC activity from the transformant by the above-mentioned known method, and comparing it with the PC activity of the crude enzyme solution extracted from the non-transformed strain, Can be confirmed. Recombination capable of highly expressing pc in coryneform bacteria by introducing a DNA fragment containing the pc gene into an appropriate plasmid, for example, a plasmid vector containing at least a gene responsible for the replication and replication function of the plasmid in coryneform bacteria. A plasmid can be obtained. Here, in the above recombinant plasmid, the promoter for expressing the pc gene can be a promoter possessed by coryneform bacteria, but is not limited thereto, and has a base sequence for initiating transcription of the pc gene. Any promoter can be used.

  The plasmid vector into which the pc gene can be introduced is not particularly limited as long as it contains at least a gene that controls the replication growth function in coryneform bacteria. Specific examples thereof include, for example, a plasmid pCRY30 described in JP-A-3-210184; plasmids pCRY21, pCRY2KE, pCRY2KX described in JP-A-2-72876 and US Pat. No. 5,185,262. pCRY31, pCRY3KE and pCRY3KX; plasmids pCRY2 and pCRY3 described in JP-A-1-191686; pAM330 described in JP-A-58-67679; pHM1519 described in JP-A-58-77895; PAJ655, pAJ611 and pAJ1844 described in JP-A-58-192900; pCG1 described in JP-A-57-134500; pCG2 described in JP-A-58-35197; described in JP-A-57-183799 PCG And pCG11, etc. can be mentioned.

  Among them, plasmid vectors used in the host-vector system of coryneform bacteria have a gene responsible for the replication and replication function of the plasmid in coryneform bacteria and a gene responsible for the plasmid stabilization function in coryneform bacteria. For example, plasmids pCRY30, pCRY21, pCRY2KE, pCRY2KX, pCRY31, pCRY3KE and pCRY3KX are preferably used.

  A recombinant vector obtained by inserting the pc gene into an appropriate site of a plasmid vector capable of replicating in an aerobic coryneform bacterium as described above, such as a coryneform bacterium such as Brevibacterium lactofermentum By transforming 2256 strain (ATCC13869), coryneform bacteria with enhanced pc gene expression can be obtained. Transformation can be performed by, for example, the electric pulse method (Res. Microbiol., Vol. 144, p.181-185, 1993). The enhancement of PC activity can also be achieved by introducing a pc gene on a chromosome by a known homologous recombination method, and making it highly expressed by substitution, amplification or the like. By destroying the PTA and / or ACK genes in the PC gene high-expressing strain thus obtained, a bacterial strain with enhanced PC activity and reduced PTA and / or ACK activity can be obtained. I can do it. Note that either the reduction of the PTA and / or ACK activity or the enhancement of the PC activity may be performed first.

  The gram-positive bacteria obtained as described above are reacted with an organic raw material in a reaction liquid such as a medium containing the organic raw material, and oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative such as succinic acid is produced and accumulated in the reaction liquid or in the cell body. The oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivative can be efficiently produced by collecting the oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivative from the medium.

  When using the bacterium in the production reaction of oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivative, slant culture in solid medium such as agar medium may be used for direct reaction, but the bacterium is cultured in liquid medium in advance (seed culture). It is preferable to use the above. The bacterium thus seed-cultured can be produced by reacting with an organic raw material while growing on a medium containing the organic raw material. Moreover, it can manufacture also by collect | recovering the microbial cells obtained by making it propagate, and making this microbial cells react with an organic raw material in the reaction liquid containing an organic raw material. In order to use an aerobic coryneform bacterium for the method of the present invention, it is preferable to use the bacterium after culturing under normal aerobic conditions and then for the reaction. As a medium used for culture, a medium usually used for culture of microorganisms can be used. For example, a general medium obtained by adding a natural nutrient source such as meat extract, yeast extract or peptone to a composition composed of inorganic salts such as ammonium sulfate, potassium phosphate and magnesium sulfate can be used. When the cultured cells are collected and used, the cells are collected by centrifugation, membrane separation or the like and used for the reaction.

  In the present invention, a treated product of bacterial cells can also be used. Examples of treated cells include, for example, immobilized cells obtained by immobilizing cells with acrylamide, carrageenan, etc., crushed materials obtained by crushing cells, centrifugation supernatants thereof, or partial supernatants thereof by ammonium sulfate treatment, etc. Examples include purified fractions.

  The organic raw material used in the production method of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a carbon source that can be assimilated by the present microorganism to produce oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative. Usually, galactose, lactose, glucose, fructose, glycerol, Carbohydrates such as sucrose, saccharose, starch and cellulose; fermentable carbohydrates such as polyalcohols such as glycerin, mannitol, xylitol and ribitol are used, among which glucose, fructose and sucrose are preferable, and glucose is particularly preferable.

  Moreover, the starch saccharified liquid, molasses, etc. containing the said fermentable saccharide | sugar are also used. These fermentable carbohydrates can be used alone or in combination. The use concentration of the organic raw material is not particularly limited, but it is advantageous to make it as high as possible within a range not inhibiting the production of succinic acid, and is usually 5 to 30% (W / V), preferably 10 to 20%. The reaction is carried out within the range of (W / V). Further, additional addition of organic raw materials may be performed in accordance with the decrease of the organic raw materials as the reaction proceeds.

  The reaction solution containing the organic raw material is not particularly limited, and water, a buffer solution, a culture medium, or the like is used. The reaction solution is preferably a reaction solution containing a nitrogen source, an inorganic salt, and the like. Here, the nitrogen source is not particularly limited as long as the microorganism can be assimilated to produce succinic acid, and specifically, ammonium salt, nitrate, urea, soybean hydrolysate, casein degradation product And various organic and inorganic nitrogen compounds such as peptone, yeast extract, meat extract and corn steep liquor. As the inorganic salt, various phosphates, sulfates, magnesium, potassium, manganese, iron, zinc, and other metal salts are used. In addition, factors that promote growth such as vitamins such as biotin, pantothenic acid, inositol, and nicotinic acid, nucleotides, and amino acids are added as necessary. In order to suppress foaming during the reaction, it is desirable to add an appropriate amount of a commercially available antifoaming agent to the reaction solution.

The pH of the reaction solution can be adjusted by adding sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, magnesium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide or the like. Since the pH in this reaction is usually pH 5 to 10, preferably 6 to 9.5, the pH of the reaction solution is within the above range depending on the alkaline substance, carbonate, urea, etc. as necessary even during the reaction. Adjust to.

  The medium preferably contains carbonate ion, bicarbonate ion or carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide). Carbonate ions or bicarbonate ions are supplied from magnesium carbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, which can also be used as a neutralizing agent. It can also be supplied from the salt or carbon dioxide gas. Specific examples of the carbonate or bicarbonate salt include magnesium carbonate, ammonium carbonate, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and potassium bicarbonate. Carbonate ions and bicarbonate ions are added at a concentration of 0.001 to 5M, preferably 0.1 to 3M, and more preferably 1 to 2M. When carbon dioxide gas is contained, 50 mg to 25 g, preferably 100 mg to 15 g, more preferably 150 mg to 10 g of carbon dioxide gas is contained per liter of the solution.

  The optimal growth temperature for bacteria used in this reaction is usually 25 ° C to 35 ° C. The temperature during the reaction is usually 25 ° C to 40 ° C, preferably 30 ° C to 37 ° C. Although the quantity of the microbial cell used for reaction is not prescribed | regulated, 1-700 g / L, Preferably it is 10-500 g / L, More preferably, 20-400 g / L is used. The reaction time is preferably 1 hour to 168 hours, more preferably 3 hours to 72 hours.

  When culturing bacteria, it is necessary to supply oxygen by aeration and agitation. On the other hand, the reaction for producing oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative may be carried out with aeration and stirring, but may be carried out under anaerobic conditions in which oxygen is not supplied without aeration. The anaerobic condition mentioned here means that the reaction is carried out while keeping the dissolved oxygen concentration in the solution low. In this case, the dissolved oxygen concentration is desirably 0 to 2 ppm, preferably 0 to 1 ppm, more preferably 0 to 0.5 ppm. As a method therefor, for example, a method in which the container is sealed and reacted without aeration, a reaction is performed by supplying an inert gas such as nitrogen gas, or a carbon dioxide-containing inert gas is ventilated can be used. .

  Oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative accumulated in the reaction solution (culture solution) can be separated and purified from the reaction solution according to a conventional method. Specifically, after removing solids such as bacterial cells by centrifugation, filtration, etc., desalting with an ion exchange resin or the like, succinic acid can be separated and purified from the solution by crystallization or column chromatography. it can.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, after producing oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative by the above-described method of the present invention, the resulting oxaloacetic acid or oxaloacetic acid derivative is used as a raw material to carry out a polymerization reaction, thereby containing oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative. Can be produced. The polymer containing oxaloacetic acid or an oxaloacetic acid derivative may be a homopolymer or a copolymer with other polymer raw materials. In recent years, with the increase in the number of environmentally friendly industrial products, attention has been focused on polymers using plant-derived raw materials. In particular, succinic acid produced in the present invention is processed into polymers such as polyester and polyamide. Can be used. The succinic acid obtained by the production method of the present invention or a composition containing the succinic acid can be used for food additives, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and the like.

[Example]
EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example is given and this invention is demonstrated concretely, this invention is not limited to the following.

<Construction of vector for gene disruption>
(A) Extraction of Bacillus subtilis genomic DNA LB medium [composition: tryptone 10 g, yeast extract 5 g, NaCl 5 g dissolved in 1 L of distilled water] 10 mL, Bacillus subtilis ISW1214 logarithmic growth phase The cells were cultured until the later stage, and the cells were collected. The obtained cells were suspended in 0.15 mL of a 10 mM NaCl / 20 mM Tris buffer solution (pH 8.0) / 1 mM EDTA · 2Na solution containing lysozyme at a concentration of 10 mg / mL.
Next, proteinase K was added to the suspension so that the final concentration was 100 μg / mL, and the mixture was incubated at 37 ° C. for 1 hour. Further, sodium dodecyl sulfate was added to a final concentration of 0.5%, and the mixture was incubated at 50 ° C. for 6 hours for lysis. To this lysate, add an equal amount of phenol / chloroform solution, shake gently at room temperature for 10 minutes, and then centrifuge (5,000 × g, 20 minutes, 10-12 ° C.) to obtain a supernatant. The fraction was collected and sodium acetate was added to a concentration of 0.3 M, and then twice as much ethanol was added and mixed. The precipitate collected by centrifugation (15,000 × g, 2 minutes) was washed with 70% ethanol and then air-dried. To the obtained DNA, 5 mL of a 10 mM Tris buffer (pH 7.5) -1 mM EDTA · 2Na solution was added and left overnight at 4 ° C., and used as template DNA for subsequent PCR.

(B) Amplification and Cloning of SacB Gene by PCR Acquiring Bacillus subtilis SacB gene using the DNA prepared in (A) as a template and the nucleotide sequence of the gene already reported (GenBank Database Accession)
No. This was performed by PCR using synthetic DNA (SEQ ID NO: 1 and SEQ ID NO: 2) designed based on X02730).
Composition of reaction solution: 1 μL of template DNA, 0.2 μL of Pfx DNA polymerase (manufactured by Invitrogen), 1 × concentration attached buffer, 0.3 μM each primer, 1 mM MgSO ₄ and 0.25 μM dNTPs were mixed to make a total volume of 20 μL.
Reaction temperature conditions: DNA thermal cycler PTC-200 (manufactured by MJ Research) was used, and a cycle consisting of 94 ° C. for 20 seconds and 68 ° C. for 2 minutes was repeated 35 times. However, the heat retention at 94 ° C. in the first cycle was 1 minute 20 seconds, and the heat retention at 68 ° C. in the final cycle was 5 minutes.
Confirmation of the amplified product was carried out by separating by 0.75% agarose (SeaKem GTG agarose: manufactured by FMC BioProducts) gel electrophoresis and then visualized by ethidium bromide staining, and a fragment of about 2 kb was detected. The DNA fragment of interest was recovered from the gel using a QIAQuick Gel Extraction Kit (manufactured by QIAGEN).
The recovered DNA fragment was phosphorylated at the 5 ′ end with T4 polynucleotide kinase (T4 Polynucleotide Kinase: manufactured by Takara Shuzo), and then ligated kit ver. 2 (manufactured by Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.) was used to bind to the EcoRV site of the E. coli vector (pBluescript II: manufactured by STRATEGENE), and E. coli (DH5α strain) was transformed with the resulting plasmid DNA. The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium [10 g tryptone, 5 g yeast extract, 5 g NaCl, and 15 g agar dissolved in 1 L distilled water] containing 50 μg / mL ampicillin and 50 μg / mL X-Gal. .
Clones that formed white colonies on this medium were then transferred to LB agar medium containing 50 μg / mL ampicillin and 10% sucrose and cultured at 37 ° C. for 24 hours. Among these clones, those that could not grow on a medium containing sucrose were subjected to liquid culture by a conventional method, and then plasmid DNA was purified. Strains in which the SacB gene is functionally expressed in E. coli should be unable to grow on sucrose-containing media. The obtained plasmid DNA was cleaved with restriction enzymes SalI and PstI, whereby an inserted fragment of about 2 kb was observed, and the plasmid was named pBS / SacB.

(C) Construction of chloramphenicol resistant SacB vector 500 ng of E. coli plasmid vector pHSG396 (Takara Shuzo: chloramphenicol resistant marker) was reacted with restriction enzyme PshBI10units at 37 ° C. for 1 hour, followed by phenol / chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. It was collected. After blunting both ends with Klenow fragment (manufactured by Takara Shuzo), ligation kit ver. MluI linker (Takara Shuzo) was ligated and circularized using 2 (Takara Shuzo), and Escherichia coli (DH5α strain) was transformed. The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium containing 34 μg / mL chloramphenicol. Plasmid DNA was prepared from the obtained clones by a conventional method, and a clone having a restriction enzyme MluI cleavage site was selected and named pHSG396Mlu.
On the other hand, pBS / SacB constructed in (B) above was cleaved with restriction enzymes SalI and PstI, and the ends were blunted with Klenow fragment. Ligation kit ver. After linking the MluI linker using 2 (Takara Shuzo), a DNA fragment of about 2.0 kb containing the SacB gene was separated and recovered by 0.75% agarose gel electrophoresis. This SacB gene fragment was cleaved with the restriction enzyme MluI, and then the pHSG396Mlu fragment dehydrated with alkaline phosphatase (Alkaline Phosphatase Calf intestine) and ligation kit ver. 2 (manufactured by Takara Shuzo) was used to transform E. coli (DH5α strain). The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium containing 34 μg / mL chloramphenicol.
The colonies thus obtained were then transferred to an LB agar medium containing 34 μg / mL chloramphenicol and 10% sucrose and cultured at 37 ° C. for 24 hours. Among these clones, plasmid DNA was purified by a conventional method for those that could not grow on a medium containing sucrose. As a result of analyzing the thus obtained plasmid DNA by MluI digestion, it was confirmed that it had an inserted fragment of about 2.0 kb, and this was named pCMB1.

(D) Acquisition of kanamycin resistance gene The kanamycin resistance gene is obtained by PCR using the DNA of E. coli plasmid vector pHSG299 (Takara Shuzo: Kanamycin resistance marker) as a template and the synthetic DNAs shown in SEQ ID NOs: 3 and 4 as primers. Went by. Composition of reaction solution: Template DNA 1 ng, Pyrobest DNA polymerase (Takara Shuzo) 0.1 μL, 1 × concentration buffer, 0.5 μM each primer, 0.25 μM dNTPs were mixed to make a total volume of 20 μL.
Reaction temperature condition: DNA thermal cycler PTC-200 (manufactured by MJ Research) was used, and a cycle consisting of 94 ° C. for 20 seconds, 62 ° C. for 15 seconds, and 72 ° C. for 1 minute 20 seconds was repeated 20 times. However, the heat retention at 94 ° C. in the first cycle was 1 minute 20 seconds, and the heat retention at 72 ° C. in the final cycle was 5 minutes.
Confirmation of the amplification product was carried out by separating by 0.75% agarose (SeaKem GTG agarose: manufactured by FMCBioProducts) gel electrophoresis and then visualized by ethidium bromide staining to detect a fragment of about 1.1 kb. The DNA fragment of interest was recovered from the gel using a QIAQuick Gel Extraction Kit (manufactured by QIAGEN). The recovered DNA fragment was phosphorylated at the 5 ′ end with T4 polynucleotide kinase (T4 Polynucleotide Kinase: manufactured by Takara Shuzo).

(E) Construction of kanamycin-resistant SacB vector The approximately 3.5 kb DNA fragment obtained by cleaving pCMB1 constructed in (C) above with restriction enzymes Van91I and ScaI was separated and recovered by 0.75% agarose gel electrophoresis. did. This was mixed with the kanamycin resistance gene prepared in (D) above, and ligated kit ver. 2 (manufactured by Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.)
5α strain) was transformed. The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium containing 50 μg / mL kanamycin.
It was confirmed that the strain grown on this kanamycin-containing medium was unable to grow on the sucrose-containing medium. Moreover, the plasmid DNA prepared from the same strain produced fragments of 354, 473, 1807, and 1997 bp by digestion with the restriction enzyme HindIII. Therefore, it was determined that the structure shown in FIG. Named.

<Preparation of LDH gene disruption strain>
(A) Extraction of Brevibacterium flavum MJ233-ES strain genomic DNA A medium [urea 2 g, (NH ₄ ) ₂ SO ₄ 7 g, KH ₂ PO ₄ 0.5 g, K ₂ HPO ₄ 0.5 g, MgSO _{4. 7H 2 O 0.5g, FeSO 4 ·} 7H 2 O 6mg, MnSO 4 · 4-5H 2 O6mg, biotin 200 [mu] g, thiamine 100 [mu] g, yeast extract 1g, casamino acid 1g, glucose 20g, dissolved in distilled water 1L] in 10mL Brevibacterium flavum strain MJ-233 was cultured until the late logarithmic growth phase, and genomic DNA was prepared from the cells obtained by the method shown in (A) of Example 1 above.

(B) Cloning of lactate dehydrogenase gene The MJ233 strain lactate dehydrogenase gene was obtained by using the DNA prepared in (A) above as a template and a synthetic DNA designed on the basis of the base sequence of the gene described in JP-A-11-206385 ( It was performed by PCR using SEQ ID NO: 5 and SEQ ID NO: 6). Composition of reaction solution: Template DNA 1 μL, Taq DNA polymerase (Takara Shuzo) 0.2 μL, 1 × concentration attached buffer, 0.2 μM each primer, 0.25 μM dNTPs were mixed to make the total volume 20 μL.
Reaction temperature conditions: DNA thermal cycler PTC-200 (manufactured by MJ Research) was used, and a cycle consisting of 94 ° C. for 20 seconds, 55 ° C. for 20 seconds and 72 ° C. for 1 minute was repeated 30 times. However, the heat retention at 94 ° C. in the first cycle was 1 minute 20 seconds, and the heat retention at 72 ° C. in the final cycle was 5 minutes.
Confirmation of the amplification product was carried out by separating by 0.75% agarose (SeaKem GTG agarose: manufactured by FMCBioProducts) gel electrophoresis and then visualized by ethidium bromide staining to detect a fragment of about 0.95 kb. The DNA fragment of interest was recovered from the gel using a QIAQuick Gel Extraction Kit (manufactured by QIAGEN).
The recovered DNA fragment was mixed with a PCR product cloning vector pGEM-TEasy (Promega) and ligation kit ver. After ligation using 2 (Takara Shuzo), Escherichia coli (DH5α strain) was transformed with the obtained plasmid DNA. The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium containing 50 μg / mL ampicillin and 50 μg / mL X-Gal.
Clones that formed white colonies on this medium were subjected to liquid culture by a conventional method, and then plasmid DNA was purified. By cutting the obtained plasmid DNA with restriction enzymes SacI and SphI, an inserted fragment of about 1.0 kb was recognized, which was designated as pGEMT / CgLDH.

(C) Construction of plasmid for disrupting lactate dehydrogenase gene The coding region of lactate dehydrogenase consisting of about 0.25 kb was excised by cutting the pGEMT / CgLDH prepared in (B) above with restriction enzymes EcoRV and XbaI. The ends of the remaining approximately 3.7 kb DNA fragment were blunted with Klenow fragment, and ligated kit ver. 2 (manufactured by Takara Shuzo) was cyclized to transform E. coli (DH5α strain). The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium containing 50 μg / mL ampicillin.
The strain grown on this medium was subjected to liquid culture by a conventional method, and then the plasmid DNA was purified. By cutting the obtained plasmid DNA with restriction enzymes SacI and SphI, a clone in which an insert fragment of about 0.75 kb was recognized was selected and named pGEMT / ΔLDH.
Next, a DNA fragment of about 0.75 kb generated by cleaving the above pGEMT / ΔLDH with restriction enzymes SacI and SphI is separated and recovered by 0.75% agarose gel electrophoresis, and a lactate dehydrogenase gene fragment containing a defective region Was prepared. This DNA fragment was mixed with pKMB1 constructed in Example 1 cleaved with restriction enzymes SacI and SphI, and ligation kit ver. After ligation using 2 (Takara Shuzo), Escherichia coli (DH5α strain) was transformed with the obtained plasmid DNA. The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium containing 50 μg / mL kanamycin and 50 μg / mL X-Gal.
Clones that formed white colonies on this medium were subjected to liquid culture by a conventional method, and then plasmid DNA was purified. The obtained plasmid DNA was cleaved with restriction enzymes SacI and SphI, so that an insert fragment of about 0.75 kb was selected and named pKMB1 / ΔLDH (FIG. 2).

(D) Preparation of lactate dehydrogenase gene disruption strain derived from Brevibacterium flavum MJ233-ES strain Plasmid DNA used for transformation of Brevibacterium flavum MJ-233 strain was obtained by the calcium chloride method (Journal of using pKMB1 / ΔLDH). (Molecular Biology, 53, 159, 1970).
Transformation of Brevibacterium flavum MJ233-ES strain is performed by electric pulse method (Res.
Microbiol., Vol. 144, p.181-185, 1993), and the resulting transformant was prepared by subjecting the obtained transformant to an LBG agar medium containing 50 μg / mL kanamycin [10 g tryptone, 5 g yeast extract, 5 g NaCl, 20 g glucose, and 15 g of agar was dissolved in 1 L of distilled water].
Since the strain grown on this medium is a plasmid in which pKMB1 / ΔLDH cannot be replicated in Brevibacterium flavum MJ233-ES, the lactate dehydrogenase gene of the plasmid and Brevibacterium flavum MJ-233 strain As a result of homologous recombination with the same gene on the genome, the kanamycin resistance gene and SacB gene derived from the plasmid should be inserted on the same genome.
Next, the homologous recombination strain was subjected to liquid culture in an LBG medium containing kanamycin 50 μg / mL. A portion equivalent to about 1 million cells of this culture was smeared on a 10% sucrose-containing LBG medium. As a result, about 10 strains that were considered to be sucrose-insensitive due to elimination of the SacB gene by the second homologous recombination were obtained.
Among the strains thus obtained, those in which the lactate dehydrogenase gene is replaced with a mutant derived from pKMB1 / ΔLDH and those in which the wild type is restored are included. Confirmation of whether the lactate dehydrogenase gene is a mutant type or a wild type is easily confirmed by subjecting the cells obtained by liquid culture in LBG medium to direct PCR reaction and detecting the lactate dehydrogenase gene. it can. When the lactate dehydrogenase gene is analyzed using primers (SEQ ID NO: 7 and SEQ ID NO: 8) for PCR amplification, a wild-type DNA fragment of 720 bp and a mutant type having a deletion region should have a DNA fragment of 471 bp.
As a result of analyzing the strain that became insensitive to sucrose by the above method, a strain having only the mutant gene was selected, and the strain was named Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH.

(E) Confirmation of lactate dehydrogenase activity The Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH strain prepared in (D) above was inoculated in medium A and cultured with shaking aerobically at 30 ° C. for 15 hours. The resulting culture is centrifuged (3,
The cells were collected by 000 × g, 4 ° C., 20 minutes, and then washed with a sodium-phosphate buffer (composition: 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.3)).
Next, 0.5 g (wet weight) of washed cells was suspended in 2 mL of the sodium-phosphate buffer, and the cells were crushed by applying an ultrasonic crusher (manufactured by Branson) under ice cooling. The crushed material was centrifuged (10,000 × g, 4 ° C., 30 minutes), and the supernatant was obtained as a crude enzyme solution. As a control, a crude enzyme solution of Brevibacterium flavum MJ233-ES strain was similarly prepared and subjected to the following activity measurement.
Confirmation of the enzyme activity of lactate dehydrogenase was carried out by measuring the oxidation of coenzyme NADH to NAD + with the production of lactic acid using pyruvate as a substrate for both crude enzyme solutions as a change in absorbance at 340 nm [L. Kanarek and R.L.Hill, J. Biol. Chem. 239, 4202 (1964)]. The reaction was performed at 37 ° C. in the presence of 50 mM potassium-phosphate buffer (pH 7.2), 10 mM pyruvic acid, 0.4 mM NADH. As a result, the lactate dehydrogenase activity in the crude enzyme solution prepared from Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH was 10 minutes compared to the lactate dehydrogenase activity in the crude enzyme solution prepared from Brevibacterium flavum MJ233-ES strain. 1 or less.

<Preparation of pta-ack gene operon disruption strain>
(A) Construction of plasmid for destroying pta-ack gene operon MJ233 strain The pta gene was obtained using Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC13032 strain in which the whole genome sequence was reported using the DNA prepared in Example 2 (A) as a template. PCR was performed using synthetic DNA (SEQ ID NO: 9 and SEQ ID NO: 10) designed based on the sequence of the gene (NCgl2657 of GenBank Database Accession No. NC — 003450).
Composition of reaction solution: template DNA 1 μL, Pfx DNA polymerase (manufactured by Invitrogen) 0.2 μL, 1-fold concentration buffer, 0.3 μM each primer, 1 mM MgSO ₄ ,
0.25 μM dNTPs was mixed to make a total volume of 20 μL.
Reaction temperature conditions: DNA thermal cycler PTC-200 (manufactured by MJ Research) was used, and a cycle consisting of 94 ° C. for 20 seconds, 60 ° C. for 20 seconds, and 72 ° C. for 50 seconds was repeated 35 times. However, the heat retention at 94 ° C. in the first cycle was 1 minute 20 seconds, and the heat retention at 72 ° C. in the final cycle was 5 minutes.
Confirmation of the amplification product was carried out by separating by 0.75% agarose (SeaKem GTG agarose: manufactured by FMCBioProducts) gel electrophoresis and then visualized by ethidium bromide staining, and a fragment of about 1.7 kb was detected. The DNA fragment of interest was recovered from the gel using a QIAQuick Gel Extraction Kit (manufactured by QIAGEN).
The recovered DNA fragment was phosphorylated at the 5 ′ end with T4 polynucleotide kinase (T4 Polynucleotide Kinase: manufactured by Takara Shuzo), and then ligated kit ver. 2 (Takara Shuzo) was used to bind to the HincII site of E. coli vector pHSG299 (Takara Shuzo), and Escherichia coli (DH5α strain) was transformed with the resulting plasmid DNA. The recombinant Escherichia coli thus obtained was smeared on an LB agar medium containing 50 μg / mL kanamycin and 50 μg / mL X-Gal.
Clones that formed white colonies on this medium were subjected to liquid culture by a conventional method, and then plasmid DNA was purified. The obtained plasmid DNA was subjected to a PCR reaction using the synthetic DNAs shown in SEQ ID NO: 9 and SEQ ID NO: 11 as primers.
Composition of reaction solution: 1 ng of the above plasmid, Ex-Taq DNA polymerase (manufactured by Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.) 0.2 μL, 1 × concentration attached buffer, 0.2 μM each primer, 0.25 μM dNTPs were mixed to make a total volume of 20 μL.
Reaction temperature conditions: DNA thermal cycler PTC-200 (manufactured by MJ Research) was used, and a cycle consisting of 94 ° C. for 20 seconds, 60 ° C. for 20 seconds and 72 ° C. for 50 seconds was repeated 20 times. However, the heat retention at 94 ° C. in the first cycle is 1 minute 20 seconds, and the final cycle is 72
Insulation at 5 ° C. was 5 minutes.
As a result of confirming the presence and orientation of the inserted DNA fragment in this way, a plasmid that recognized an amplification product of about 0.64 kb was selected and named pTA / 299 (FIG. 3).

(B) Preparation of pta-ack gene operon disruption strain derived from Brevibacterium flavum MJ233-ES strain Plasmid DNA used for transformation of Brevibacterium flavum MJ-233 strain was obtained by the calcium chloride method using pTA / 299 ( (Journal of Molecular Biology, 53, 159, 1970).
The test strain for disrupting the pta-ack gene operon was the Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH strain prepared in Example 2, and a kanamycin resistant strain was obtained by transformation according to the method described in Example 2.
The kanamycin resistant strain thus obtained was confirmed whether homologous recombination occurred between the pta gene present on its genome and the gene present on plasmid pTA / 299. And colony PCR using SEQ ID NO: 12 (FIG. 4). The template DNA was a supernatant obtained by boiling the colony in 50 μL of sterile water and boiling for 5 minutes.
Composition of reaction solution: Template DNA 1 μL, Ex-Taq DNA polymerase (manufactured by Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd.) 0.2 μL, 1 × concentration attached buffer, 0.2 μM each primer, 0.25 μM dNTPs were mixed to make a total volume of 20 μL.
Reaction temperature conditions: DNA thermal cycler PTC-200 (manufactured by MJ Research) was used, and a cycle consisting of 94 ° C. for 20 seconds, 60 ° C. for 20 seconds and 72 ° C. for 50 seconds was repeated 20 times. However, the heat retention at 94 ° C. in the first cycle was 1 minute 20 seconds, and the heat retention at 72 ° C. in the final cycle was 5 minutes.
As a result of analyzing the kanamycin resistant strain by the above method, a strain that obtains a PCR amplification product of about 0.77 kb, that is, a strain that has undergone homologous recombination with the pta gene, was selected. Named. This strain is also called a pta-ack gene operon disruption strain.

(C) Evaluation of acetic acid assimilation property Whether or not the pta-ack gene operon of the above Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔptaΔLDH has been destroyed is determined by measuring phosphoacetyltransferase activity or enzyme activity of acetate kinase. In addition, it can also be carried out in a growth test using a minimal medium containing acetic acid as the only carbon source (see Microbiology (1999), 145, 503-513).
A minimal medium [urea 2 g, (NH ₄ ) ₂ SO ₄ 7 g, KH ₂ PO ₄ 0.5 g, K ₂ HPO ₄ 0.5 g, MgSO ₄ .7H ₂ O 0.5 g, FeSO ₄ .7H ₂ O 6 mg , MnSO ₄ .4-5H ₂ O 6 mg, biotin 200 μg, thiamine 100 μg, agar 15 g, dissolved in 1 L of distilled water], a growth test was conducted using a medium containing 2% glucose or 2% potassium acetate. The um flavum MJ233 / ΔptaΔLDH strain showed growth equivalent to the parent strain Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH in the glucose medium, whereas it did not grow at all in the acetic acid medium.
Therefore, in the Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔptaΔLDH strain, it was considered that the ability to assimilate acetic acid was lost due to the disruption of the pta gene, and the ability to produce acetic acid, which was the reverse reaction of the enzyme reaction, was also expected to decrease .

<Fermentative production of succinic acid using a pta-ack gene operon disruption strain>
100 mL seed culture medium (urea: 4 g, ammonium sulfate: 14 g, monopotassium phosphate: 0.5 g, dipotassium phosphate 0.5 g, magnesium sulfate heptahydrate: 0.5 g, ferrous sulfate-7 water 20 mg, manganese sulfate hydrate: 20 mg, D-biotin: 200 μg, thiamine hydrochloride: 200 μg, yeast extract: 1 g, casamino acid: 1 g, and distilled water: 1000 ml) in a 500 mL Erlenmeyer flask, 120 Sterilized at 20 ° C. for 20 minutes. This was cooled to room temperature, 4 ml of 50% glucose aqueous solution sterilized in advance and 5 ml of 0.1% chloramphenicol aqueous solution filtered aseptically were added, and the aforementioned Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔptaΔLDH strain was inoculated. The seed culture was performed at 30 ° C. for an hour. The obtained whole culture solution was collected by centrifugation at 10000 g for 5 minutes, and the cell suspension medium (magnesium sulfate heptahydrate: 0.5 g, ferrous sulfate heptahydrate: 20 mg, sulfuric acid Manganese hydrate: 20 mg, D-biotin: 200 μg, thiamine hydrochloride: 200 μg, and distilled water: 1000 ml) were suspended so that the absorbance of OD660 was 80. Add 1 ml of the above suspension to a 2 ml reactor, add 1 ml of the substrate solution (glucose: 100 g, magnesium carbonate: 97 g, ammonium carbonate: 9.4 g and distilled water to 1000 ml), add 20% carbon dioxide, 80% The reaction was carried out at 30 ° C. for 4 hours in an atmosphere of% nitrogen. The reaction results are shown in Table 1.

  Fermentative production of succinic acid was performed by culturing the pta-ack gene operon disrupted strain in a medium containing sodium hydrogen carbonate. The same procedure as in Example 4 was performed except that the composition of the substrate solution at the time of reaction (glucose: 100 g, sodium bicarbonate: 86 g and distilled water was added and 1000 ml) was changed. The reaction results are shown in Table 1.

  Fermentative production of succinic acid was carried out by culturing the pta-ack gene operon disrupted strain in a medium containing ammonium hydrogen carbonate. The same procedure as in Example 4 was carried out except that the composition of the substrate solution during the reaction (glucose: 100 g, ammonium hydrogen carbonate: 78 g and distilled water was added and 1000 ml) was changed. The reaction results are shown in Table 1.

[Comparative Example 1]
The succinic acid was fermented by culturing the control strain Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH in a medium containing magnesium carbonate. The same procedure as in Example 4 was performed except that the strain was changed to Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH. The reaction results are shown in Table 1.

[Comparative Example 2]
The succinic acid was fermentatively produced by culturing the control strain Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH strain in a medium containing sodium bicarbonate. The same procedure as in Example 5 was performed except that the strain was changed to Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH. The reaction results are shown in Table 1.

[Comparative Example 3]
The succinic acid was fermented by culturing the control strain Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH strain in a medium containing ammonium bicarbonate. The same procedure as in Example 6 was performed except that the strain was changed to Brevibacterium flavum MJ233 / ΔLDH. The reaction results are shown in Table 1.

The production ratio of the pta-ack gene operon-disrupted strain (MJ233 / ΔptaΔLDH) was 15% in acetic acid by-product ratio to succinic acid (Example 4, Comparative Example 1) in the medium containing sodium hydrogen carbonate. It is clear that about 30% decrease in culture (Example 5, Comparative Example 2) and culture in a medium containing ammonium bicarbonate (Example 6, Comparative Example 3), respectively, with respect to the parent strain (MJ233 / ΔLDH). Became. From the above, it was shown that PTA and ACK are involved not only in acetic acid assimilation but also in the production of acetic acid. It was found to be effective in lowering.

The figure which shows the construction procedure and restriction enzyme map of plasmid pKMB1. The figure which shows the construction | assembly procedure of plasmid pKMB1 / (DELTA) LDH. The figure which shows the construction procedure of plasmid pTA / 299. The number enclosed in a circle indicates the primer of each SEQ ID NO. The figure which shows the genome structure of a pta gene homologous recombination strain. The number enclosed in a circle indicates the primer of each SEQ ID NO.

Claims (4)

Has an ability to produce succinic acid, and modified to both the activity of acetate kinase and phosphorylase photo lance deacetylase is reduced as compared with an unmodified strain, further lactate dehydrogenase activity, the enzyme non Coryneform bacteria modified so as to be reduced compared to the modified strain or a processed product thereof are allowed to act on the organic raw material in a reaction solution containing the organic raw material and ammonium hydrogen carbonate under anaerobic conditions. A method for producing succinic acid, characterized in that succinic acid is produced and accumulated in the liquid or in the fungus body, and succinic acid is collected from the reaction liquid or the fungus body. The production method according to claim 1, wherein the bacterium is further modified so that pyruvate carboxylase activity is enhanced as compared to an unmodified strain of the enzyme. The manufacturing method of Claim 1 or 2 whose said organic raw material is 1 or 2 or more organic raw materials chosen from the group which consists of glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Manufacture of the polymer containing a succinic acid including the process of manufacturing a succinic acid by the method as described in any one of Claims 1-3, and the process of performing a polymerization reaction using the succinic acid obtained at the said process as a raw material. Method.

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