Saccharide production from methanol by transposon 5 mutants derived from the extracellular polysaccharide-producing bacterium Methylobacillus sp strain 12S

Yoshida T; Horinouchi M; Ayabe Y; Yamaguchi T; Shibuya N; Habe H; Nojiri H; Yamane H; Omori T

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Vol.54, No.3, 341-347, 2000

DOI10.1007/s002530000407 Export Citation

Saccharide production from methanol by transposon 5 mutants derived from the extracellular polysaccharide-producing bacterium Methylobacillus sp strain 12S

Yoshida T, Horinouchi M, Ayabe Y, Yamaguchi T, Shibuya N, Habe H, Nojiri H, Yamane H, Omori T

A CH3OH-utilizing bacterium that has the ability to produce extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) was isolated from a soil sample, and was identified as the obligate methylotroph Methylobacillus sp. strain 12S on the basis of its 16S. rDNA sequence and growth-substrate specificity. The EPS produced by strain 12S was purified and the sugar composition was analysed by CC-MS and HPLC to reveal that the EPS was a heteropolymer composed of glucosyl, galactosyl, and mannosyl residues in the molar ratio 3:1:1. In order to produce mono- and/or oligosaccharides by single-step fermentation from CH3OH, stain 12S was mutagenized by transposon 5. Among eleven EPS-deficient mutants, three strains were found to accumulate significant amounts of reducing sugars in the media. The amounts of the reducing sugars produced by the mutants (> ca. 700 mg glucose equivalent/l) were >11-22 times higher than those produced by the wild-type strain (