In this study, the fed-batch fermentation technique was applied to improve the yield of L-threonine produced by Escherichia coli TRFC. Various fermentation substrates and conditions were investigated to identify the optimal carbon source, its concentration and C/N ratio in the production of L-threonine. Sucrose was found to be the optimal initial carbon source and its optimal concentration was determined to be 70 g/L based on the results of fermentations conducted in a 5-L jar fermentor using a series of fed-batch cultures of E. coli TRFC. The effects of glucose concentration and three different feeding methods on the production of L-threonine were also investigated in this work. Our results showed that the production of L-threonine by E. coli was enhanced when glucose concentration varied between 5 and 20 g/L with DO-control pulse fed-batch method. Furthermore, the C/N ratio was a more predominant factor than nitrogen concentration for L-threonine overproduction and the optimal ratio of ammonium sulfate to sucrose (g/g) was 30. Under the optimal conditions, a final L-threonine concentration of 118 g/L was achieved after 38 h with the productivity of 3.1 g/L/h (46% conversion ratio from glucose to threonine).

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Fusarium graminearum is the major causal agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease in cereal crops worldwide. Infection with this fungal phytopathogen can regularly cause severe yield and quality losses and mycotoxin contamination in grains. In previous other studies, one research group reported that pyrrolnitrin had an ability to suppress of mycelial growth of F. graminearum. Other groups revealed that phenazine-1-carboxamide, a derivative of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, could also inhibit the growth of F. graminearum and showed great potentials in the bioprotection of crops from FHB disease. In our recent work with Pseudomonas chlororaphis strain G05, however, we found that although the phz operon (phenazine biosynthetic gene cluster) was knocked out, the phenazine-deficient mutant G05Δphz still exhibited effective inhibition of the mycelial growth of some fungal phytopathogens in pathogen inhibition assay, especially including F. graminearum, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Botrytis cinerea. With our further investigations, including deletion and complementation of the prn operon (pyrrolnitrin biosynthetic gene cluster), purification and identification of fungal compounds, we first verified that not phenazines but pyrrolnitrin biosynthesized in P. chlororaphis G05 plays an essential role in growth suppression of F. graminearum and the bioprotection of cereal crops against FHB disease.

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