Lysine Production From Methanol

Methylotrophs, microorganisms that use reduced onecarbon

compounds, are diverse and ubiquitous. Even though many methylotrophs have been
described,
only a few are gram positive. The industrial advantages of using methanol as a substrate for
largescale
production of fermentation products have been outlined
by other groups. Methanol is relatively inexpensive, prices are relatively stable, production
exceeds demand, and it is easily stored and transported. In addition,
methanol is available in pure form, it is highly soluble in water, methanol solutions are not
explosive, and residual methanol can be easily removed from
products after fermentation is completed. Bacillus species have been used extensively in
industrial fermentation processes, but little information has been
published on the isolation of Bacillus species capable of rapid growth on methanol at
temperatures above 50 oC.
The nutritionally important amino acid Llysine
is a member of the aspartate family of amino acids and is primarily used in supplements for
animal feeds made
from grains that contain only limited quantities of Llysine.
Poultry, swine, and other livestock are unable to synthesize Llysine
and therefore must have this
amino acid supplied as part of their diet. Currently, Llysine
is being manufactured by either direct fermentation, or enzymatic conversion of
DLaaminoecaprolactam.
Fermentations that use strains of Corynebacterium glutamicum or Brevibacterium
lactofermentum with molasses or starch hydrolysate as
feedstocks have become the major method of Llysine
production.
CEBTech has experience with a project involving the isolation, characterization, growth and
Llysine
production from, a grampositive
endosporeforming
methylotroph that grew rapidly on methanol at 60 oC. The organism discovered was
eventually named Bacillus methanolicus. Mutants of this newly discovered
methylotroph that were homoserine auxotrophs and S(
2aminoethyl)
cysteine
(AEC) resistant, were found capable of secreting significant amounts of the amino
acid Llysine.
Figures 1 4
below show much of the run data generated during fermentations using homoserine
auxotrophic and amino acid analogresistant
mutants of Bacillus methanolicus.