High fermentative production of L-threonine from acetate by a Brevibacterium flavum stabilized strain transformed with a recombinant plasmid carrying the Escherichia coli thr operon.

Decrease in L-threonine productivity caused not only by plasmid-free segregation but also by plasmid deletion was observed in a Brevibacterium flavum L-threonine producer when transformed with a recombinant plasmid carrying Escherichia coli thr operon. However, a recombinant strain, HT-16, was stabilized by the addition of trimethoprim (a selective marker on the vector) at concentration of 1000 micrograms/ml, which was rather higher than the minimum inhibitory one, into the stock culture medium. Strain HT-16 produced 64.4 g/liter of L-threonine, 30% higher than that of the host strain, after 92 h of cultivation in a small jar fermentor using acetic acid as a carbon source without trimethoprim.