High level extracellular production of recombinant γ-glutamyl transpeptidase from Bacillus licheniformis in Escherichia coli fed-batch culture

Abstract Increasing demand of microbial γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) in food and pharmaceutical sectors raised the need for process development for high level production of the enzyme. In this respect, GGT from Bacillus licheniformis ER15 (SBLGGT) was cloned along with its native secretion signal and expressed in E. coli using different expression vectors. Native signal of the enzyme assistedits extracellular translocationin E. coli .Maximum enzyme expression was shown by construct pET51b- sblggt ,in comparison to other clones, in E. coli . Shake-flask cultivation and expression using Luria-Bertani (LB) medium resulted in 2800 U/l enzyme titers in 48 h which was furtherenhancedto 4.3-fold after optimizing various cultivation conditions viz . inducer concentration, agitation, medium and induction optical density. High cell density cultivation using fed-batch fermentation strategy resulted in 20-fold increase over shake flask studies to a level of 61250 U/l. After 24 h,the specific product yield was 2355 U/g dry cell weight (DCW)with volumetric productivity of 2552 U/l/h. Of the total enzyme expressed,40% was translocated extracellularly during high cell density fed-batch fermentation resulting in an enzyme activity of 24500 U/l in the extracellular medium after 24 h. This is the highest reported enzyme titers of bacterial GGT enzyme in E. coli expression system. Thus, the current study provides a cost-effective method for the over-expression and preparation of bacterial GGT enzyme for its industrial applications.