A Genome-based Bioprocess for L-Lysine using Corynebacterium Glutamicum: Process parameters

L-lysine (C6H14N2O2), one of the essential and commercially important amino acids, is found in naturally occurring proteins of all living organisms. L-lysine is produced by Corynebacterium glutamicum and its major commercial form, L-lysine monohydrochloride, is mainly used as an additive in animal feed, especially for broilers, poultry and swine, and as a supplement for humans. It also finds application in cosmetics and in the pharmaceutical industry (Thomas Hermann, 2003). L-Lysine has been manufactured using Corynebacterium glutamicum for more than 40 years. Now-a-days, production of L-lysine exceeds 600,000 tons per year. Based on conventionally bred strains, further improvement of lysine productivity has been achieved by genetic engineering. The completely sequenced genome of C. glutamicum codes for about 3000 proteins, of which approximately 750 are predicted to be enzymes, and 650 are predicted as integral membrane proteins. Proteomics of the whole bacterium can be used to compare different C. glutamicum L-lysine producing strains in order to detect potential targets for improvements of amino acid production. More than 100 bacterial genomes have already been sequenced.