Production of L-alanyl-L-glutamine by immobilized Escherichia coli expressing amino acid ester acyltransferase.

Production of Ala-Gln by the E. coli expressing α-amino acid ester acyltransferase was a promising technical route due to its high enzyme activity, but the continuous production ability still needs to improve. Therefore, the immobilized E. coli expressing α-amino acid ester acyltransferase was applied for the continuous production of Ala-Gln. Four materials were selected as embedding medium for the whole cell entrapment of recombinant bacteria. Calcium alginate beads were found to be the most proper entrapment carrier for production of Ala-Gln. The temperature, pH, and repeatability of the immobilized cell were compared with free cells. Results showed that immobilization cell could maintain a wider range of temperature/pH and better stability than free cell (20-35 °C/pH 8.0-9.0, and 25 °C/pH 8.5, respectively). On this basis, continuous production strategy was put forward by filling the immobilized cell in the tubular reactor with multiple control conditions. The Ala-Gln by immobilization cell achieved the productivity of 2.79 mg/(min*mL-CV) without intermittent time. Consequently, these findings suggest that the immobilization technique has potential applications in the production of Ala-Gln by biotechnological method. KEY POINTS: • Immobilization helps to achieve high efficiency production of Ala-Gln. • Immobilized cells have better stability than free cells. • Sodium alginate is the most suitable immobilized material.