Effects of Fe(2+) addition to sugarcane molasses on poly-γ-glutamic acid production in Bacillus licheniformis CGMCC NO. 23967

BACKGROUND: Poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) is biodegradable, water-soluble, environment-friendly, and edible. Consequently, it has a variety of industrial applications. It is crucial to control production cost and increase output for industrial production γ-PGA. RESULTS: Here γ-PGA production from sugarcane molasses by Bacillus licheniformis CGMCC NO. 23967 was studied in shake-flasks and bioreactors, the results indicate that the yield of γ-PGA could reach 40.668 g/L in a 5L stirred tank fermenter. Further study found that γ-PGA production reached 70.436 g/L, γ-PGA production and cell growth increased by 73.20% and 55.44%, respectively, after FeSO(4)·7H(2)O was added. Therefore, we investigated the metabolomic and transcriptomic changes following FeSO(4)·7H(2)O addition. This addition resulted in increased abundance of intracellular metabolites, including amino acids, organic acids, and key TCA cycle intermediates, as well as upregulation of the glycolysis pathway and TCA cycle. CONCLUSIONS: These results compare favorably with those obtained from glucose and other forms of biomass feedstock, confirming that sugarcane molasses can be used as an economical substrate without any pretreatment. The addition of FeSO(4)·7H(2)O to sugarcane molasses may increase the efficiency of γ-PGA production in intracellular. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12934-023-02042-0.