Cell growth and enzyme synthesis of a mutant of Arthrobacter sp. (DSM 3747) used for the production of L-amino acids from D,L-5-monosubstituted hydantoins.

A microorganism with the ability to form L-tryptophan from D,L-5-(3-indolyl-methyl)hydantoin (D,L-5-IMH) was isolated and identified as Arthrobacter sp. (DSM 3747). After isolation of a mutant with high tryptophan production activity but low tryptophan degradation, cultural conditions were optimized to achieve high amounts of biomass with good specific activities concerning the enzymatic hydantoin-cleaving reactions. The ability of the microorganism to perform these bioconversions was found to be inducible by D,L-5-IMH as well as to be dependent on the presence of Mn2+. The highest specific D,L-5-IMH-cleaving activity of the cells was observed in the exponential phase of growth. The addition of yeast extract to the mineral salts medium was found to be essential for obtaining biomass concentrations of about 25 g l-1 cell dry mass by bioreactor cultivations. In order to obtain a constantly high growth rate, feeding of the C-source was pO2-controlled. The inducer D,L-5-IMH had to be continuously fed to prevent a decline of the L-tryptophan-forming enzyme activities, because it was subjected to degradation with the enzymes induced and higher concentrations of D,L-5-IMH aggravated the growth significantly. The synthesis of the enzymes was also inducible, when inducer and Mn2+ were not added until the late growth phase. Using this process, the consumption of D,L-5-IMH was reduced remarkably. So, under these conditions biomass concentrations of 25 g l-1 cell dry weight with a specific enzymatic activity of 0.20 mmol g-1 h-1 (tryptophan per dry mass per time) could be obtained within 13 h. Using 1 g l-1 of the chemically modified inducer D,L-5-(3-indolylmethyl)-3-N-methylhydantoin, which was not degradable by the microorganisms, a biomass concentration of 28 g l-1 cell dry weight with a specific activity of 0.34 mmol g-1 h-1 (tryptophan per dry mass per time) could be obtained within 28 h.