MICROBIAL PRODUCTION OF L-ARGININE

I. PRODUCTION OF L-ARGININE BY MUTANTS OF GLUTAMIC ACID-PRODUCING BACTERIA

Abstract

L-Arginine-producing mutants were found in mutants resistant to various amino acid analogs including canavanine and antimetabolites derived from glutamic acid-producing bacteria such as Brevibacterium flavum, Corynebacterium lilium, Microbacterium ammoniaphilum, Arthrobacter paraffineus, and Brevibacterium ketoglutamicum.
L-Arginine producers could also be obtained by random isolation from cells treated with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. The best producer, strain No. 352, was isolated as a 2-thiazolealanine-resistant mutant from a guanine auxotroph of Brevibacterium flavum. Strain No. 352 produced 34.8mg/ml of L-arginine in a medium containing 13% of glucose. L-Citrulline was also produced by this strain in the same medium.