Effect of Glycine on L-Ornithine Production by a Citrulline Auxotroph of Brevibacterium ketoglutamicum and Stoichiometric Analysis

The effects of glycine on cell growth and L-omithine production were investigated in shake-flask and jar fermentor cultures of a citrulline auxotrophic mutant, Brevibacterium ketoglutamicum BK 1046. In the shake-flask culture, the optimal concentration of glycine for L-ornithine production was found to be 20 g/l. In the jar fermentor culture with the glycine at an initial concentration of 20 g/l, L-ornithine production increased by 28%, compared to that of the culture with no glycine added. 37 g/l of L-ornithine was produced when additional feeding of glycine (5 g/l) was made. This was a significant improvement in L-ornithine production compared to that (ca. 24 g/l) of the corresponding batch culture conducted without glycine. According to the stoichiometric analysis with the batch fermentation results, the experimental and theoretical L-ornithine yields based on the glucose consumption were 0.24 and 0.59, respectively. This indicates that the performance of L-ornithine fermentation can further be improved by the supplementation of glycine and the development of a mutant strain possessing a higher growth yield.