Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Online ISSN : 1347-5215
Print ISSN : 0918-6158
ISSN-L : 0918-6158
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Development of a System of High Ornithine and Citrulline Production by a Plant-Derived Lactic Acid Bacterium, Weissella confusa K-28
Md RakhimuzzamanMasafumi NodaNarandalai DanshiitsoodolMasanori Sugiyama
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2019 Volume 42 Issue 9 Pages 1581-1589

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Abstract

As a bacterium used in industry for production of several amino acids, an endotoxin-free Corynebacterium (C.) glutamicum is well known. However, it is also true that the endotoxin-producing other Corynebacterium species is present. An aim of this study is to obtain a lactic acid bacterium (LAB) that produces ornithine and citrulline at high levels. We successfully isolated a strain, designated K-28, and identified it as Weissella (W.) confusa. The production of ornithine and citrulline by K-28 was 18 ± 1 and 10 ± 2 g/L, respectively, with a 100 ± 9% conversion rate when arginine was continuously fed into a jar fermenter. Although the ornithine high production using C. glutamicum is industrially present, the strains have been genetically modified. In that connection, the wild-type of C. glutamicum produces only 0.5 g/L ornithine, indicating that W. confusa K-28 is superior to C. glutamicum to use a probiotic microorganism. We confirmed that W. confusa K-28 harbors an arginine deiminase (ADI) gene cluster, wkaABDCR. The production of ornithine and the expression of these genes significantly decreased under the aerobic condition rather than anaerobic one. The expression level of the five genes did not differ with or without arginine, suggesting that the production of amino acids in the K-28 strain was not induced by exogenous arginine.

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© 2019 The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
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