AUTHOR=Wang Jian , Yang Jian , Shi Guoxin , Li Weidong , Ju Yun , Wei Liang , Liu Jun , Xu Ning TITLE=Transcriptome profiles of high-lysine adaptation reveal insights into osmotic stress response in Corynebacterium glutamicum JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.933325 DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2022.933325 ISSN=2296-4185 ABSTRACT=Corynebacterium glutamicum has been widely and effectively used for fermentative production of L-lysine at the industrial scale. However, the high-level accumulation of end-products will inevitably lead to osmotic stress and hinders further increase of L-lysine production. At present, the underlying mechanism by which C. glutamicum cells adapt to high-lysine induced osmotic stress is still unclear. In this study, we conducted comparative transcriptomic analysis by RNA-seq to determine gene expression profiles under different high-lysine stress conditions. The results indicated that the increased expression of some metabolic pathways such as sulfur metabolism, and specific amino acid biosynthesis might offer favorable benefits for high-lysine adaptation. Functional assays of 15 representative differentially-expressed genes showed that the enhanced expression of multiple candidate genes especially grpE chaperon conferred high-lysine stress tolerance in C. glutamicum. Moreover, DNA repair component MutT and energy-transducing NADH dehydrogenase Ndh were also found to be important for protecting cells against high-lysine induced osmotic stress. Taken together, these above findings will provide broader views of transcriptome profiles and promising candidate targets of C. glutamicum for the adaptation of high-lysine stress during fermentation.