Breeding of a cyclic imide-assimilating bacterium, Pseudomonas putida s52, for high efficiency production of pyruvate

Abstract

A succinimide-assimilating bacterium, Pseudomonas putida s52, was found to be a potent producer of pyruvate from fumarate. Using washed cells from P. putida s52 as catalyst, 400mM pyruvate was produced from 500mM fumarate in a 36-h reaction. Bromopyruvate, a malic enzyme inhibitor, was used for the selection of mutants with higher pyruvate productivity. A bromopyruvate- resistant mutant, P. putida 15160, was found to be an effective catalyst for pyruvate production. Moreover, under batch bioreactor conditions, 767mM of pyruvate was successfully produced from 1,000mM fumarate in a 72-h reaction with washed cells from P. putida 15160 as catalyst.