Microbial production of L-lysine from methanol for use as feed supplement to fish and animals.

The essential amino acid L-lysine is used as a feed supplement, primarily for pigs and poultry: Lately feed producers have also started to add essential amino acids to fish feed. During the 1990's the global consumption of L-lysine grew with more than 1 0% annually. In 1998 it was approx. 550 000 ton with a market value of about 1000 million USD. The market is expected to continue to increase. Today L-lysine is produced by fermentation of Corynebacterium and Brevibacterium spp on low cost carbohydrates. The thermophilic, methylotrophic bacterium Bacillus methanolicus can produce L-lysine by fermentation of methanol. Methanol is an economicall y attractive alternative to low cost carbohydrates, and gives Norway as a large producer of methanol, a special advantage and the opportunity to build technology to use natural resources for industrial development. The project aim to generate fundamental knowledge about metabolic engineering in Bacillus methanolicus in order to be able to generate a cost-effective process for L-lysine from methanol. In industrial fermentations, high osmotic stress may limit lysine production, and osmoregulation in the organism will therefore also be studied. The project is a close cooperation between the University of Minnesota, NTNU and SINTEF.