Effect of carbon source on inclusion body formation upon overproduction ofperiplasmic penicillin acylase in Escherichia coli

The effect of carbon supplementation on penicillin acylase (PAC) production and inclusion body formation was investigated. The host effect was also ex amined by comparing culture performances using HB101 or its derived mutant, MD Delta P7, as the expression host. Among several carbons tested, glycero l was found to be optimum for PAC production. PAC activity was increased an d the amount of inclusion bodies was reduced upon glycerol supplementation. The ef feet of carbon source on inclusion body formation appears to be str ain-dependent. With the optimization on the culture parameters (i.e., host and carbon effects), volumetric PAC activity could be significantly improve d at more than fourfold that of the control experiment. This information is useful for developing expression strategies for optimization of PAC produc tion.