Osmotolerance in Escherichia coli Is Improved by Activation of Copper Efflux Genes or Supplementation with Sulfur-Containing Amino Acids

Improvement in the osmotolerance of is essential for the production of high titers of various bioproducts. In this work, a mutation that was identified in the previously constructed high-succinate-producing strain HX024 was investigated for its effect on osmotolerance. CusS is part of the two-component system CusSR that protects cells from Ag(I) and Cu(I) toxicity. Changing from strain HX024 back to its original sequence led to a 24% decrease in cell mass and succinate titer under osmotic stress (12% glucose). When cultivated with a high initial glucose concentration (12%), introduction of the mutation into parental strain Suc-T110 led to a 21% increase in cell mass and a 40% increase in succinate titer. When the medium was supplemented with 30 g/liter disodium succinate, the mutation led to a 120% increase in cell mass and a 492% increase in succinate titer. Introducing the mutation into the wild-type strain ATCC 8739 led to increases in cell mass of 87% with 20% glucose and 36% using 30 g/liter disodium succinate. The mutation increased the expression of , and gene expression levels were found to be positively related to osmotolerance abilities. Because high osmotic stress has been associated with deleterious accumulation of Cu(I) in the periplasm, activation of CusCFBA may alleviate this effect by transporting Cu(I) out of the cells. This hypothesis was confirmed by supplementing sulfur-containing amino acids that can chelate Cu(I). Adding methionine or cysteine to the medium increased the osmotolerance of under anaerobic conditions. In this work, an activating Cus copper efflux system was found to increase the osmotolerance of In addition, new osmoprotectants were identified. Supplementation with methionine or cysteine led to an increase in osmotolerance of under anaerobic conditions. These new strategies for improving osmotolerance will be useful for improving the production of chemicals in industrial bioprocesses.