초록
Corynebacterium glutamicum is known as a host species for amino acid production. This microorganism was recently noticed as a host that produces secreted proteins. In this study, we performed <SUP>13</SUP>C metabolic flux analysis (<SUP>13</SUP>C-MFA) on a recombinant C. glutamicum strain that secretes a heterologous transglutaminase (TGase) to improve TGase secretion. For the <SUP>13</SUP>C-MFA of a TGase-secreting C. glutamicum strain in batch cultivation, a <SUP>13</SUP>C-labeling experiment and measurement of mass isotopomer distributions of proteinogenic amino acids were performed, and metabolic fluxes were determined considering the changes in fractional <SUP>13</SUP>C-labeling of proteinogenic amino acids with respect to culture time. The TGase yield increased at the stationary phase but decreased toward its end. The results of <SUP>13</SUP>C-MFA revealed that the flux from glycolysis to the TCA cycle gradually increased during TGase secretion. We speculate that the NADH/NAD<SUP>+</SUP> ratio in the cells increases and that as a result, the specific glucose uptake rate decreases in the stationary phase because of the increased flux of the TCA cycle. Since it is expected that a decrease in the NADH/NAD<SUP>+</SUP> ratio would improve the TGase yield, we tried to enhance lactate production in a TGase-secreting C. glutamicum strain to decrease cellular NADH levels by increasing the pH level in the culture. The TGase yield increased in 1.4-fold by increasing the pH from 6.7 to 7.2, indicating that the TGase yield was successfully improved on the basis of the <SUP>13</SUP>C-MFA.