Opportunities to overcome the current limitations and challenges for efficient microbial production of optically pure lactic acid

Biotechnological conversion of spent coffee grounds into lactic acid

This work investigates the potential bioconversion of spent coffee grounds (SCG) into lactic acid (LA). SCG were hydrolysed by a combination of dilute acid treatment and subsequent application of cellulase. The SCG hydrolysate contained a considerable amount of reducing sugars (9·02 ± 0·03 g l^-1 , glucose; 26·49 ± 0·10 g l^-1 galactose and 2·81 ± 0·07 g l^-1 arabinose) and it was used as a substrate for culturing several lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and LA-producing Bacillus coagulans. Among the screened micro-organisms, Lactobacillus rhamnosus CCM 1825 was identified as the most promising producer of LA on a SCG hydrolysate. Despite the inhibitory effect exerted by furfural and phenolic compounds in the medium, reasonably high LA concentrations (25·69 ± 1·45 g l^-1 ) and yields (98%) were gained. Therefore, it could be demonstrated that SCG is a promising raw material for the production of LA and could serve as a feedstock for the sustainable large-scale production of LA.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) represent solid waste generated in millions of tonnes by coffee-processing industries. Their disposal represents a serious environmental problem; however, SCG could be valorized within a biorefinery concept yielding various valuable products. Herein, we suggest that SCG can be used as a complex carbon source for the lactic acid production.

Constructing xylose-assimilating pathways in Pediococcus acidilactici for high titer d-lactic acid fermentation from corn stover feedstock

Xylose-assimilating pathway was constructed in a d-lactic acid producing Pediococcus acidilactici strain and evolutionary adapted to yield a co-fermentation strain P. acidilactici ZY15 with 97.3g/L of d-lactic acid and xylose conversion of 92.6% obtained in the high solids content simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) of dry dilute acid pretreated and biodetoxified corn stover feedstock. The heterologous genes encoding xylose isomerase (xylA) and xylulokinase (xylB) were screened and integrated into the P. acidilactici chromosome. The metabolic flux to acetic acid in phosphoketolase pathway was re-directed to pentose phosphate pathway by substituting the endogenous phosphoketolase gene (pkt) with the heterologous transketolase (tkt) and transaldolase (tal) genes. The xylose-assimilating ability of the newly constructed P. acidilactici strain was significantly improved by adaptive evolution. This study provided an important strain and process prototype for high titer d-lactic acid production from lignocellulose feedstock with efficient xylose assimilation.

Recovery of lactic acid from the pretreated fermentation broth based on a novel hyper-cross-linked meso-micropore resin: Modeling

An innovative benign process for recovery lactic acid from its fermentation broth is proposed using a novel hyper-cross-linked meso-micropore resin and water as eluent. This work focuses on modeling the competitive adsorption behaviors of glucose, lactic acid and acetic acid ternary mixture and explosion of the adsorption mechanism. The characterization results showed the resin had a large BET surface area and specific pore structure with hydrophobic properties. By analysis of the physicochemical properties of the solutes and the resin, the mechanism of the separation is proposed as hydrophobic effect and size-exclusion. Subsequently three chromatographic models were applied to predict the competitive breakthrough curves of the ternary mixture under different operating conditions. The pore diffusion was the major limiting factor for the adsorption process, which was consistent with the BET results. The novel HD-06 resin can be a good potential adsorbent for the future SMB continuous separation process.

Investigation of food waste valorization through sequential lactic acid fermentative production and anaerobic digestion of fermentation residues

This work concerns the investigation of the sequential production of lactic acid (LA) and biogas from food waste (FW). LA was produced from FW using a Streptococcus sp. strain via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and separate enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF). Via SHF a yield of 0.33g_LA/g_FW (productivity 3.38g_LA/L·h) and via SSF 0.29g_LA/g_FW (productivity 2.08g_LA/L·h) was obtained. Fermentation residues and FW underwent anaerobic digestion (3wt% TS). Biogas yields were 0.71, 0.74 and 0.90Nm³/kg_VS for FW and residues from SSF and SHF respectively. The innovation of the approach is considering the conversion of FW into two different products through a biorefinery concept, therefore making economically feasible LA production and valorising its fermentative residues. Finally, a mass balance of three different outlines with the aim to assess the amount of LA and biogas that may be generated within different scenarios is presented.

Lactobacilli and pediococci as versatile cell factories - Evaluation of strain properties and genetic tools

This review discusses opportunities and bottlenecks for cell factory development of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), with an emphasis on lactobacilli and pediococci, their metabolism and genetic tools. In order to enable economically feasible bio-based production of chemicals and fuels in a biorefinery, the choice of product, substrate and production organism is important. Currently, the most frequently used production hosts include Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but promising examples are available of alternative hosts such as LAB. Particularly lactobacilli and pediococci can offer benefits such as thermotolerance, an extended substrate range and increased tolerance to stresses such as low pH or high alcohol concentrations. This review will evaluate the properties and metabolism of these organisms, and provide an overview of their current biotechnological applications and metabolic engineering. We substantiate the review by including experimental results from screening various lactobacilli and pediococci for transformability, growth temperature range and ability to grow under biotechnologically relevant stress conditions. Since availability of efficient genetic engineering tools is a crucial prerequisite for industrial strain development, genetic tool development is extensively discussed. A range of genetic tools exist for Lactococcus lactis, but for other species of LAB like lactobacilli and pediococci such tools are less well developed. Whereas lactobacilli and pediococci have a long history of use in food and beverage fermentation, their use as platform organisms for production purposes is rather new. By harnessing their properties such as thermotolerance and stress resistance, and by using emerging high-throughput genetic tools, these organisms are very promising as versatile cell factories for biorefinery applications.

Lactic acid production from submerged fermentation of broken rice using undefined mixed culture

The present work aimed to characterize and optimize the submerged fermentation of broken rice for lactic acid (LA) production using undefined mixed culture from dewatered activated sludge. A microorganism with amylolytic activity, which also produces LA, Lactobacillus amylovorus, was used as a control to assess the extent of mixed culture on LA yield. Three level full factorial designs were performed to optimize and define the influence of fermentation temperature (20-50 °C), gelatinization time (30-60 min) and broken rice concentration in culture medium (40-80 g L^-1) on LA production in pure and undefined mixed culture. LA production in mixed culture (9.76 g L^-1) increased in sixfold respect to pure culture in optimal assessed experimental conditions. The optimal conditions for maximizing LA yield in mixed culture bioprocess were 31 °C temperature, 45 min gelatinization time and 79 g L^-1 broken rice concentration in culture medium. This study demonstrated the positive effect of undefined mixed culture from dewatered activated sludge to produce LA from culture medium formulated with broken rice. In addition, this work establishes the basis for an efficient and low-cost bioprocess to manufacture LA from this booming agro-industrial by-product.

Construction of a novel d-lactate producing pathway from dihydroxyacetone phosphate of the Calvin cycle in cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

Using engineered cyanobacteria to produce various chemicals from carbon dioxide is a promising technology for a sustainable future. Lactate is a valuable commodity that can be used for the biodegradable plastic, polylactic acid. Typically, lactate production using engineered cyanobacteria was via the conversion of pyruvate in glycolysis by lactate dehydrogenase. In cyanobacteria, the metabolic flux in the Calvin cycle is higher than that in glycolysis under photoautotrophic conditions. The construction of a novel lactate producing pathway that uses metabolites from the Calvin cycle could potentially increase lactate productivity in cyanobacteria. In order to develop such a novel lactate production pathway, we engineered a cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 strain that produced lactate directly from carbon dioxide using dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) via methylglyoxal. We confirmed that wild-type strain of S. elongatus PCC 7942 could produce lactate using exogenous methylglyoxal. A methylglyoxal synthase gene, mgsA, from Escherichia coli was introduced into Synechococcus elongates PCC 7942 for conversion of DHAP to methylglyoxal. This engineered strain produced lactate directly from carbon dioxide. Genes encoding intrinsic putative glyoxalase I, II (Synpcc7942_0638, 1403) and the lactate/H⁺ symporter from E. coli (lldP) were additionally introduced to enhance the production. For higher lactate production, it was important to maintain elevated extracellular pH due to the characteristics of lactate exporting system. In this study, the highest lactate titer of 13.7 mM (1.23 g/l) was achieved during a 24-day incubation with the engineered S. elongatus PCC 7942 strain possessing the novel lactate producing pathway.

Thermophilic Enterococcus faecium QU 50 enabled open repeated batch fermentation for l-lactic acid production from mixed sugars without carbon catabolite repression

Thermophilic lactic acid bacterium enabled homo-l-lactic acid fermentation from hexose/pentose without carbon catabolite repression, and open repeated production by immobilization.