Production of the amino acids l-glutamate, l-lysine, l-ornithine and l-arginine from arabinose by recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum

Amino acid production processes with Corynebacterium glutamicum are based on media containing glucose from starch hydrolysis or fructose and sucrose as present in molasses. Simultaneous utilization of various carbon sources, including glucose, fructose and sucrose, in blends is a typical characteristic of this bacterium. The renewable non-food carbon source arabinose, which is present in hemicellulosic hydrolysates, cannot be utilized by most C. glutamicum strains. Heterologous expression of the araBAD operon from Escherichia coli in the wild-type and in an l-lysine producing strain of C. glutamicum was shown to enable production of l-glutamate and l-lysine, respectively, from arabinose as sole carbon source. l-Ornithine and l-arginine producing strains were constructed and shown to produce l-ornithine and l-arginine from arabinose when araBAD from E. coli was expressed. Moreover, the recombinant strains produced l-glutamate, l-lysine, l-ornithine and l-arginine respectively, from arabinose also when glucose–arabinose blends were used as carbon sources.