Controlling
the carbon flux into a desired pathway is important
for improving product yield in metabolic engineering. After entering
a cell, glucose is channeled into glycolysis and the pentose phosphate
pathway (PPP), which decreases the yield of target products whose
synthesis relies on NADPH as a cofactor. Here, we demonstrate redirection
of carbon flux into PPP under aerobic conditions in Corynebacterium
glutamicum, achieved by replacing the promoter of glucose
6-phosphate isomerase gene (pgi) with an anaerobic-specific
promoter of the lactate dehydrogenase gene (ldhA).
The promoter replacement increased the split ratio of carbon flux
into PPP from 39 to 83% under aerobic conditions. The titer, yield,
and production rate of 1,5-diaminopentane, whose synthesis requires
NADPH as a cofactor, were increased by 4.6-, 4.4-, and 2.6-fold, respectively.
This is the largest improvement in the production of 1,5-diaminopentane
or its precursor, lysine, reported to date. After aerobic cell growth, pgi expression was automatically induced under anaerobic
conditions, altering the carbon flux from PPP to glycolysis, to produce
succinate in a single metabolically engineered strain. Such an automatic
redirection of metabolic pathway using an oxygen-responsive switch
enables two-stage fermentation for efficient production of two different
compounds by a single strain, potentially reducing the production
costs and time for practical applications.