ENZYME AND MICROBIAL TECHNOLOGY, vol.24, no.10, pp.621-635, 1999 (SCI-Expanded)
A mass flux balance-based stoichiometric model of Bacillus licheniformis for the serine alkaline protease (SAP) fermentation process has been established. The model considers 147 reaction fluxes, and there are 105 metabolites that are assumed to be in pseudo-steady state. Metabolic flux distributions were obtained from the solution of the model based on the minimum SAP accumulation rate assumption in B. licheniformis in combination with the off-line extracellular analyses of the metabolites that were the sole carbon source citrate, dry cell, organic acids, amino acids, and SAP; variations in the intracellular fluxes were demonstrated for the three periods of the batch bioprocess. The flux distribution maps showed that the cells completed the TCA cycle and utilized the gluconeogenesis; pathway, pentose phosphate pathway, and anaplerotic reactions throughout the fermentation; however the glycolysis pathway was inactive in all the periods of the fermentation. The flux values toward SAP increased throughout the bioprocess and slightly decreased in the last period; however, SRP selectivity values were almost the same in Periods II and III and higher than Period I. The diversions in the pathways and certain metabolic reactions depending on the bioprocess periods are also presented and the results indicated that the intracellular amino acid fluxes played an important role in the SAP fermentation process. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.