This invention relates to the production of
succinic acid and other chemicals derived from phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) by
fermentation with a
microorganism in which the
fermentation medium contains one or more sugars, and in which one or more of the sugars is imported into the
cell by
facilitated diffusion. As a specific example,
succinic acid is produced from a glucose-containing renewable feedstock through
fermentation using a biocatalyst. Examples of such a biocatalyst include microorganisms that have been enhanced in their ability to utilize glucose as a carbon and
energy source. The biocatalysts of the present invention are derived from the genetic manipulation of parental strains that were originally constructed with the goal to produce one or more chemicals (for example
succinic acid and / or a salt of succinic acid) at a
commercial scale using feedstocks that include, for example, glucose,
fructose, or
sucrose. The genetic manipulations of the present invention involve the introduction of exogenous genes involved in the transport and
metabolism of glucose or
fructose into the parental strains. The genes involved in the transport and
metabolism of glucose or
fructose can also be introduced into a
microorganism prior to developing the
organism to produce a particular chemical. The genes involved in the transport and
metabolism of
sucrose can also be used to augment or improve the efficiency of
sugar transport and metabolism by strains already known to have some ability for
glucose utilization in biological fermentations.