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Understanding and improving microbial production of L-glutamate from methanol by Bacillus methanolicus

Tildelt: kr 12,9 mill.

The amino acid L-glutamate, mainly used as a flavor enhancer, is one of the worlds most important biotechnological products with an estimated annual production of 1,500,000 ton. Current commercial production is performed by microbial bioprocesses based on sugar. The proposed project aims at understanding and improving L-glutamate synthesis in the methanol-utilizing bacterium Bacillus methanolicus, with a long-term goal of developing an alternative production process for microbial production of L-glutamate from methanol. High-volume production of L-glutamate from methanol will significantly improve the overall value generation of Norway?s natural gas. Our research groups have extensive experience with B. methanolicus and have developed knowledge and techn ology that should be valuable towards the exploration and optimization of L-glutamate overproduction. The methanol consumption rate by this bacterium is high, wild type strains naturally produce high amounts of L-glutamate, its biochemical properties seem s well suited for L-glutamate production and we have developed technologies for genetic manipulation and methanol-based cultivation at high cell densities. We will apply two research approaches towards the improvement of L-glutamate production in this or ganism. We will follow a targeted approach based on rational identification of target genes and conduct strain improvement by metabolic and inverse metabolic engineering. In parallel, we will employ a non-targeted cell analysis by transcriptomics and meta bolomics to identify key enzymes and metabolites controlling the conversion of methanol to L-glutamate. The combination of these two approaches will provide new and valuable insight into L-glutamate biosynthesis in this organism, pinpointing relevant targ ets for strain optimization. The acquired information will be used to develop recombinant B. methanolicus strains with increased L-glutamate production.

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GASSMAKS-Økt verdiskaping fra naturgass