Comparative study of L-phenylalanine production in the growing and stationary phases during high cell density cultivation of an auxotrophic Escherichia coli

High cell density cultivation was investigated for L-phenylalanine (L-Phe) production by an L-tyrosine (L-Tyr) auxotrophic Escherichia coli WSH-BR165 (pAPB03). Dual exponential feeding of L-Tyr and glucose was adopted to achieve high cell density cultivation. The control was completed without dual feeding. The processes where dual feeding and induction were commenced together and those where induction began after dual feeding were studied and compared. The results indicated that the former dual feeding mode was most favorable for enhanced L-Phe production. With an optimal specific growth rate of 0.09/h during the dual exponential feeding period, the maximum dry cell weight reached 43.16 g/L (3.04 times that of the control) with a final L-Phe titer of 44.53 g/L (1.06 times that of the control) and an L-Phe productivity of 1.484 g/L/h (1.69 times that of the control). High cell density cultivation via the feeding of L-Tyr and glucose exponentially after the induction point proved to be an efficient approach to enhance L-Phe production.