Implications of various phosphoenolpyruvate-carbohydrate phosphotransferase system mutations on glycerol utilization and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) accumulation in Ralstonia eutropha H16

The enhanced global biodiesel production is also yielding increased quantities of glycerol as main coproduct. An effective application of glycerol, for example, as low-cost substrate for microbial growth in industrial fermentation processes to specific products will reduce the production costs for biodiesel. Our study focuses on the utilization of glycerol as a cheap carbon source during cultivation of the thermoplastic producing bacterium Ralstonia eutropha H16, and on the investigation of carbohydrate transport proteins involved herein. Seven open reading frames were identified in the genome of strain H16 to encode for putative proteins of the phosphoenolpyruvate-carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PEP-PTS). Although the core components of PEP-PTS, enzyme I (ptsI) and histidine phosphocarrier protein (ptsH), are available in strain H16, a complete PTS-mediated carbohydrate transport is lacking. Growth experiments employing several PEP-PTS mutants indicate that the putative ptsMHI operon, comprising ptsM (a fructose-specific EIIA component of PTS), ptsH, and ptsI, is responsible for limited cell growth and reduced PHB accumulation (53%, w/w, less PHB than the wild type) of this strain in media containing glycerol as a sole carbon source. Otherwise, the deletion of gene H16_A0384 (ptsN, nitrogen regulatory EIIA component of PTS) seemed to largely compensate the effect of the deleted ptsMHI operon (49%, w/w, PHB). The involvement of the PTS homologous proteins on the utilization of the non-PTS sugar alcohol glycerol and its effect on cell growth as well as PHB and carbon metabolism of R. eutropha will be discussed.