Effect of amino acid availability on vitamin B12 production in Lactobacillus reuteri

Recent functional genomics and genome-scale modeling approaches indicated that B12 production in Lactobacillus reuteri could be improved by medium optimization. Here we show that a series of systematic single amino acid omissions could significantly modulate the production of B12 from nearly undetectable levels (by isoleucine omission) to 20-fold higher than previously reported through omission of cysteine. We analyzed by cDNA microarray experiments the transcriptional response of L. reuteri to the medium lacking cysteine. These results supported the observed high B12 production and provided new avenues for future improvement of production of vitamin B12. Keywords: cell type comparison loop design