Effects of propionate on streptolydigin production and carbon flux distribution in Streptomyces lydicus AS 4.2501

To achieve higher antibiotic streptolydigin productivity through metabolic regulation, propionate was fed during the fermentation of Streptomyces lydicus AS 4.2501. The effects of propionate feeding on streptolydigin production and intracellular fluxes were investigated. The highest streptolydigin production yield of 95.10mg·L^(-1) was obtained when 2mmol·L^(-1) of sodium propionate was added at 60h of cultivation into shake-flask culture. This yield is 23.06% higher when compared to that of a batch culture without propionate supplementation. It was also found that when propionate was added, much more organic acids were excreted. Metabolic flux analysis was performed and it demonstrated that the carbon fluxes of the pentose phosphate pathway and the anaplerotic reaction were significantly increased after propionate feeding. The carbon flux from pyruvate to acetyl-CoA was determined to be 24.7, which was 12.27% higher than that in the batch culture. This study indicated that the glucose-6-phosphate and pyruvate nodes were potential bottlenecks for increasing streptolydigin productivity. Potential targets and strategies that could be manipulated through genetic and process engineering to increase the production of streptolydigin were also suggested.