Production of L-serine and its derivative L-cysteine from renewable feedstocks using Corynebacterium glutamicum: advances and perspectives

Abstract

L-serine and its derivative L-cysteine have broad industrial applications, and their direct fermentative production from renewable biomass is gaining increasing attention. Corynebacterium glutamicum is an extensively studied and well-established industrial microorganism, which is a predominant microbial host for producing amino acids. In this review, updated information on the genetics and molecular mechanisms underlying L-serine and L-cysteine production using C. glutamicum is presented, including their synthesis and degradation pathways, and other intracellular processes related to their production, as well as the mechanisms underlying substrate import and product export are also analyzed. Furthermore, metabolic strategies for strain improvement are systematically discussed, and conclusions and future perspectives for bio-based L-serine and L-cysteine production using C. glutamicum are presented. This review can provide a thorough understanding of L-serine and L-cysteine metabolic pathways to facilitate metabolic engineering modifications of C. glutamicum and development of more efficient industrial fermentation processes for L-serine and L-cysteine production.

Keywords:

• Corynebacterium glutamicum
• L-serine
• L-cysteine
• Metabolic engineering
• Synthetic biology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [2018YFA0901400], National Natural Science Foundation of China [32171470], Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities [No. 111-2-06], National First-class Discipline Program of Light Industry Technology and Engineering [LITE2018-11], Open Project Program for Key Laboratory of Fermentation Engineering [Ministry of Education; No. KLIB-KF201606], International Joint Research Laboratory for Engineering Synthetic Biosystems for Intelligent Biomanufacturing at Jiangnan University, Six Talent Peaks Project in Province [No.2015-SWYY-006], and Top-notch Academic Programs Project of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (TAPP).