Uncoupled glycerol distribution as the origin of the accumulation of 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde during the fermentation of glycerol by enterobacter agglomerans CNCM 1210

Batch fermentation of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol (1,3PPD) by Enterobacter agglomerans CNCM 1210 showed the lethal accumulation of 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) when performed under initial substrate content higher than 40 g/L. Assigned to the inhibition by the NAD/NADH ratio of the 3-HPA converting enzyme: 1,3PPD dehydrogenase, intracellular assays were conducted in an attempt to identify the metabolic mechanisms involved in the increase of that ratio. An overflow metabolism through the 1,3PPD formation pathway was established, while a catabolic limitation in the oxidative branch at the level of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase occurred. Uncoupled activities of synthesis and consumption of reducing equivalents are thus suspected to provoke the increase of the NAD/NADH ratio and the subsequent accumulation of 3-HPA. Copyright 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.