초록
<P>The productivity of industrial fermentation processes is essentially limited by the biomass-specific substrate consumption rate (<I>q<SUB>S</SUB></I>) of the applied microbial production system. Since <I>q<SUB>S</SUB></I> depends on the growth rate (μ), we highlight the potential of the fastest-growing nonpathogenic bacterium, <I>Vibrio natriegens</I>, as a novel candidate for future biotechnological processes. <I>V. natriegens</I> grows rapidly in BHIN complex medium with a μ of up to 4.43 h<SUP>−1</SUP> (doubling time of 9.4 min) as well as in minimal medium supplemented with various industrially relevant substrates. Bioreactor cultivations in minimal medium with glucose showed that <I>V. natriegens</I> possesses an exceptionally high <I>q<SUB>S</SUB></I> under aerobic (3.90 ± 0.08 g g<SUP>−1</SUP> h<SUP>−1</SUP>) and anaerobic (7.81 ± 0.71 g g<SUP>−1</SUP> h<SUP>−1</SUP>) conditions. Fermentations with resting cells of genetically engineered <I>V. natriegens</I> under anaerobic conditions yielded an overall volumetric productivity of 0.56 ± 0.10 g alanine liter<SUP>−1</SUP> min<SUP>−1</SUP> (i.e., 34 g liter<SUP>−1</SUP> h<SUP>−1</SUP>). These inherent properties render <I>V. natriegens</I> a promising new microbial platform for future industrial fermentation processes operating with high productivity.</P><P><B>IMPORTANCE</B> Low conversion rates are one major challenge to realizing microbial fermentation processes for the production of commodities operating competitively with existing petrochemical approaches. For this reason, we screened for a novel platform organism possessing characteristics superior to those of traditionally employed microbial systems. We identified the fast-growing <I>V. natriegens</I>, which exhibits a versatile metabolism and shows striking growth and conversion rates, as a solid candidate to reach outstanding productivities. Due to these inherent characteristics, <I>V. natriegens</I> can speed up common laboratory routines, is suitable for already existing production procedures, and forms an excellent foundation for engineering next-generation bioprocesses.</P>