Data for: Substitute yeast extract while maintaining performance: showcase amorpha-4,11-diene production

Sequential processing was successfully applied to identify glutamic acid, alanine, leucine, valine, isoleucine, and glycine as the key amino acids (AAs) under slow growth conditions. Thoroughly applying biomass retention as part of sequential processing increased production capacity by 45% using these AAs instead of YE. Further studies, including flux balance analyses, targeted pyruvate as the common AA precursor.

The optimized fed-batch process feeding pyruvate with 0.09 gPyr h-1 enhanced amorpha-4,11-diene production by 37 %, although adding only 1% carbon via pyruvate. Flux balance analysis revealed the criteria for optimum pyruvate feeding, e.g., to prevent succinate secretion and maintain the NADH/NAD+ balance. These findings illustrate the interplay between media composition and metabolic activity and provide a successful guideline for identifying lean, best-performing media for industrial applications.