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The club-shaped Corynebacterium glutamicum is the Microbe of the Year 2025. This bacterium produces amino acids that would fill a freight train stretching across Germany. Corynebacterium glutamicum is considered a “hidden champion” among bacteria, an unknown world market leader: The bacterium produces 3.5 million tonnes of the flavouring agent sodium glutamate every year, as well as many other amino acids and proteins for food and animal feed. The Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) honours Corynebacterium glutamicum as a Microbe of the Year of great industrial importance.
A savoury taste, called ‘umami’, was the trigger for the isolation of Corynebacterium glutamicum: in 1956, two Japanese researchers were specifically looking for bacteria that produce such a taste. Similar to the flavours sweet, sour, salty and bitter, there are special sensory cells on the tongue for umami. Sodium glutamate triggers this savoury taste and is found naturally in ripe tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and ham, for example. It is used as a seasoning - especially in Asian cuisine and in ready-made products.
When Corynebacterium glutamicum was identified as naturally secreting glutamate, the industrial production of sodium glutamate from microorganisms began. Today, the bacteria produce over 3.5 million tonnes per year worldwide - the equivalent of a freight train with 50,000 wagons and a length of over 850 kilometres.
Scientific institutes and companies in Germany have been researching this fascinating Microbe of the Year for around 40 years. They are using specific genetic engineering methods and new approaches in synthetic biology to produce a wide range of other products with this microbe in addition to amino acids. These include health-promoting natural substances, antioxidants, and antimicrobial peptides.
To avoid wasting valuable food as a basis for amino acid production, researchers modified Corynebacterium glutamicum so that it can alternatively utilise residues from biodiesel production or plant waste, such as orange peel. This reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and enables a bioeconomic cycle from renewable resources. Intensive research into corynebacteria provides the basis for further exciting applications.
The corynebacteria owe their name to their club shape - coryne in Greek. This is due to the uneven growth of the cell walls at both ends of the bacterium: During growth, new cell wall material is initially incorporated preferentially at one end of the cell. In addition, a multi-layered, very stable and water-repellent cell envelope protects the bacteria from harmful substances. The special cell envelope also leads to an unusual division: the daughter cells snap open on one side, creating a characteristic V-shape.
Corynebacterium glutamicum, naturally living in soil, is not only robust and productive, but also completely harmless to humans. Many other Corynebacterium species that live on our skin, for example, are also harmless, if not beneficial for our microbiome. However, some relatives are quite different: Corynebacterium diphtheriae killed around 50,000 children across Germany every year until the end of the 19th century. Other Corynebacterium species found in animals also possess toxins - with the risk of transferring dangerous diseases in humans. Corynebacteria are also related to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, causing pulmonary tuberculosis, which kills 1.5 million people worldwide every year. The similarities, for example in the cell wall structure, can be used to identify targets for new drugs with the help of the Microbe of the Year. Corynebacterium glutamicum thus covers the entire spectrum from tiny research object to industrial producer on a scale of millions of tons.
Anja Störiko (VAAM)
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About the Microbe of the Year
The Microbe of the Year highlights the significant role of microorganisms in ecology, health, nutrition, and economy. The Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) has been nominating them for ten years to draw attention to the diversity of the microbiological world. All information is also available in German at http://mikrobe-des-jahres.de/.
The VAAM is a founding member of the VBIO and represents over 3400 microbiologically oriented scientists from research and industry. The spectrum of research ranges from bacteria, archaea and fungi in all ecosystems and in food to pathogens, genome analyses and industrial use of microorganisms, their enzymes and metabolic products.
Information, expert contacts, image material:
Dr. Anja Störiko |Tel. +49 6192 23605 | info@mikrobe-des-jahres.de | http://mikrobe-des-jahres.de/ | http://microbeoftheyear.org/
Dr. Katrin Muth | VAAM Office | Mörfelder Landstraße 125 | 60598 Frankfurt am Main | Tel: +49 69 66056720 | http://www.vaam.de
Dr. Kerstin Elbing | Berlin Office of VBIO | Luisenstraße 58/59 | 10117 Berlin | Tel: +49 30 27891916 | https://www.vbio.de/
Find more images of the Microbe of the Year at “contact/press” on http://microbeoftheyear.org/.
Corynebacterium glutamicum under a scanning electron microscope. The rods are not completely uniform ...
Urska Repnik, Kiel University
CC BY 4.0
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