| 1. |
- Andersson, Christian
(författare)
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Biobased production of succinic acid by Escherichia coli fermentation
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The prospects of peak oil, climate change and the dependency of fossil carbon have urged research and development of production methods for the manufacture of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources (biomass). The present thesis illustrates different aspects of biobased succinic acid production by a metabolically engineered E. coli strain. The main areas of the thesis are sugar utilisation and feedstock flexibility, and fermentation inhibition, both due to toxic compound derived from the raw material and the fermentation products themselves.The first part of this thesis aimed to investigate the fermentation characteristics of AFP184 in a medium consisting of corn steep liquor, inorganic salts and different sugar sources without supplementation with high-cost nutrients such as yeast extract and peptone. The effects of different sugars, sucrose, glucose, fructose, xylose, equal mixtures of glucose-fructose and glucose-xylose, on succinic acid production kinetics and yields in an industrially relevant medium were investigated. AFP184 was able to utilise all sugars and sugar combinations except sucrose for biomass generation and succinate production. Using glucose resulted in the highest yield, 0.83 (g succinic acid per g sugar consumed anaerobically). Using a high initial sugar concentration resulted in volumetric productivities of almost 3 g L-1 h-1, which is above estimated values for economically feasible production. However, succinic acid production ceased at final concentrations greater than 40 g L-1. To further increase succinic acid concentrations, fermentations using NH4OH, NaOH, KOH, K2CO3, and Na2CO3 as neutralising agents were performed and compared. It was shown that substantial improvements could be made by using alkali bases to neutralise the fermentations. The highest concentrations and productivities were achieved when Na2CO3 was used, 77 g L-1 and 3 g L-1 h-1 respectively. A gradual decrease in succinate productivity was observed during the fermentations, which was shown to be due to succinate accumulation in the broth and not as a result of the addition of neutralising agent or the subsequent increase in osmolarity.To maintain high succinate productivity by keeping a low extracellular succinic acid concentration fermentations were interrupted and cells recovered and resuspended in fresh media. By removing the succinate it was possible to maintain high succinic acid productivity for a prolonged time. Cells subjected to high concentrations of succinate were also able to regain high productivity once transferred into a succinate-free medium.In the last part of the thesis succinic acid production from softwood dilute acid hydrolysates was demonstrated. This study involved establishing the degree of detoxification necessary for growth and fermentation using industrial hydrolysates. Detoxification by treatment with lime and/or activated carbon was investigated and the results show that it was possible to produce succinate from softwood hydrolysates in yields comparable to those for synthetic sugars.The work done in this thesis increases the understanding of succinic acid production with AFP184, illustrate its limitations, and suggests improvements in the current technology with the long term aim of increasing the economical feasibility of biochemical succinic acid production.
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| 3. |
- Markland, Katrin
(författare)
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Methodology for high-throughput production of soluble recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli
- 2007
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this work was to investigate and determine central parameters that can be used to control and increase the solubility, quality and productivity of recombinant proteins. These central parameters should be applicable under the constraints of high-throughput protein production in Escherichia coli. The present investigation shows that alternative methods exist to improve solubility, quality and productivity of the recombinant protein. The hypothesis is that by reducing the synthesis rate of the recombinant protein, a higher quality protein should be produced. The feed rate of glucose can be used to decrease the synthesis rate of the recombinant protein. The influence of feed rate on solubility and proteolysis was investigated using the lacUV5-promoter and two model proteins, Zb-MalE and Zb-MalE31. Zb-MalE31 is a mutated form of Zb-MalE that contains two different amino acids. These altered amino acids greatly affect the solubility of the protein. The soluble fraction is generally twice as high using Zb-MalE compared to Zb-MalE31. Using a low feed rate compared to high benefits the formation of the full-length soluble protein. Furthermore, by using a low feed rate, the proteolysis can be decreased. One other factor that influences the solubility is the amount of inducer used. An increase from 100 µM to 300 µM IPTG only results in more inclusion bodies being formed, the fraction of soluble protein is the same. The quality aspect of protein production was investigated for a secreted version of Zb-MalE using two different feed rates of glucose and the maltose induced promoter PmalK. It was shown that when the protein was secreted to the periplasm, the stringent response as well as the accumulation of acetic acid (even for high feed rates) was reduced. The stringent response and accumulation of acetic acid are factors that are known to affect the quality and quantity of recombinant proteins. Transporting the protein to the periplasm results in this case on a lower burden on the cell, which leads to less degradation products being formed when the protein is secreted to the periplasm. Seeing the feed rate as a critical parameter, the high-throughput production would benefit from a variation in the feed rate. However, since the fed-batch technique is technically complicated for small volumes another approach is needed. E.coli strains that have been mutated to create an internal growth limitation that simulate fed-batch were cultivated in batch and were compared to the parent strain. It was shown that the growth rate and acetic acid formation was comparable to the parent strain in fed-batch. Furthermore it was shown that a higher cell mass was reached using one of the mutants when the cells were cultivated for as long time as possible. The higher cell mass can be used to reach a higher total productivity.
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