Growth and wax ester production of an Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 mutant deficient in exopolysaccharide capsule synthesis

Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 naturally produces wax esters that could be used as a raw material in industrial applications. We attempted to improve wax ester yield of A. baylyi ADP1 by removing rmlA, a gene involved in exopolysaccharide production. Growth rate, biomass formation and wax ester yield on 4-hydroxybenzoate were not affected, but the rmlA − strain grew slower on acetate, while reaching similar biomass and wax ester yield. The rmlA − cells had malformed shape and large size and grew poorly on glucose without expression of the gene for pyruvate kinase (pykF) from Escherichia coli. The pykF-expressing rmlA − strain had similar growth rate, lowered biomass formation and improved wax ester production on glucose as compared to the wild-type strain expressing pykF. Cultivation of the pykF-expressing rmlA − strain on an elevated glucose concentration in a medium supplemented with amino acids resulted in doubled molar wax ester yield and acetate production.