Simultaneous production of intracellular triacylglycerols and extracellular polyol esters of fatty acids by Rhodotorula babjevae and Rhodotorula aff. paludigena

Extracellular oil production by Rhodotorula paludigena BS15 for biorefinery without complex downstream processes

To realize biomass refinery without complex downstream processes, we extensively screened for microbial strains that efficiently produce extracellular oil from sugars. Rhodotorula paludigena (formerly Rhodosporidium paludigenum) BS15 was found to efficiently produce polyol esters of fatty acids (PEFAs), which mainly comprised of 3-acetoxypalmitic acid and partially acetylated mannitol/arabinitol. To evaluate the performance of this strain, fed-batch fermentation was demonstrated on a flask scale, and 110 g/L PEFA and 103 g/L dry cells were produced in 12 days. To the best of our knowledge, the strain BS15 exhibited the highest PEFA titer (g/L) ever to be reported so far. Because the PEFA precipitated at the bottom of the culture broth, it could be easily recovered by simply discarding the upper phase. Various carbon sources can be utilized for cell growth and/or PEFA production, which signifies the potential for converting diverse biomass sources. Two different types of next-generation sequencers, Illumina HiSeq and Oxford Nanopore PromethION, were used to analyze the whole-genome sequence of the strain BS15. The integrative data analysis generated a high-quality and reliable reference genome for PEFA-producing R. paludigena. The 22.5-M base genome sequence and the estimated genes were registered in Genbank (accession numbers BQKY01000001-BQKY01000019). KEY POINTS: • R. paludigena BS15 was isolated after an extensive screening of extracellular oil producers from natural sources. • Fed-batch fermentation of R. paludigena BS15 yielded 110 g/L of PEFA, which is the highest titer ever reported to date. • Combined analysis using Illumina and Oxford Nanopore sequencers produced the near-complete genome sequence.

Bioconversion of non-food corn biomass to polyol esters of fatty acid and single-cell oils

BACKGROUND

Lignocellulose is a valuable carbon source for the production of biofuels and biochemicals, thus having the potential to substitute fossil resources. Consolidated bio-saccharification (CBS) is a whole-cell-based catalytic technology previously developed to produce fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic agricultural wastes. The deep-sea yeast strain Rhodotorula paludigena P4R5 can produce extracellular polyol esters of fatty acids (PEFA) and intracellular single-cell oils (SCO) simultaneously. Therefore, the integration of CBS and P4R5 fermentation processes would achieve high-value-added conversion of lignocellulosic biomass.

RESULTS

The strain P4R5 could co-utilize glucose and xylose, the main monosaccharides from lignocellulose, and also use fructose and arabinose for PEFA and SCO production at high levels. By regulating the sugar metabolism pathways for different monosaccharides, the strain could produce PEFA with a single type of polyol head. The potential use of PEFA as functional micelles was also determined. Most importantly, when sugar-rich CBS hydrolysates derived from corn stover or corncob residues were used to replace grain-derived pure sugars for P4R5 fermentation, similar PEFA and SCO productions were obtained, indicating the robust conversion of non-food corn plant wastes to high-value-added glycolipids and lipids. Since the produced PEFA could be easily collected from the culture via short-time standing, we further developed a semi-continuous process for PEFA production from corncob residue-derived CBS hydrolysate, and the PEFA titer and productivity were enhanced up to 41.1 g/L and 8.22 g/L/day, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Here, we integrated the CBS process and the P4R5 fermentation for the robust production of high-value-added PEFA and SCO from non-food corn plant wastes. Therefore, this study suggests a feasible way for lignocellulosic agro-waste utilization and the potential application of P4R5 in industrial PEFA production.

A review of the role of biosurfactants in the biodegradation of hydrophobic organopollutants: production, mode of action, biosynthesis and applications

The increasing influence of human activity and industrialization has adversely impacted the environment via pollution with organic contaminants, which are minimally soluble in water. These hydrophobic organopollutants may be present in sediment, water or biota and have created concern due to their toxic effects in mammals. The ability of microorganisms to degrade pollutants makes their use the most effective, inexpensive and ecofriendly method for environmental remediation. Microorganisms have the ability to produce natural surfactants (biosurfactants) that increase the bioavailability of hydrophobic organopollutants, which enables their use as carbon and energy sources. Due to microbial diversity in production, and the biodegradability, nontoxicity, stability and specific activity of the surfactants, the use of microbial surfactants has the potential to overcome problems associated with contamination by hydrophobic organopollutants.This review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge regarding microbial surfactant production, mode of action in the biodegradation of hydrophobic organopollutants and biosynthetic pathways as well as their applications using emergent strategy tools to remove organopollutants from the environment. It is also specified for the first time that biosurfactants are produced either as growth-associated products or secondary metabolites, and are produced in different amounts by a wide range of microorganisms.

Phase Behaviour, Functionality, and Physicochemical Characteristics of Glycolipid Surfactants of Microbial Origin

Growing demand for biosurfactants as environmentally friendly counterparts of chemically derived surfactants enhances the extensive search for surface-active compounds of biological (microbial) origin. The understanding of the physicochemical properties of biosurfactants such as surface tension reduction, dispersion, emulsifying, foaming or micelle formation is essential for the successful application of biosurfactants in many branches of industry. Glycolipids, which belong to the class of low molecular weight surfactants are currently gaining a lot of interest for industrial applications. For this reason, we focus mainly on this class of biosurfactants with particular emphasis on rhamnolipids and sophorolipids, the most studied of the glycolipids.

The history, state of the art and future prospects for oleaginous yeast research

Lipid-based biofuels, such as biodiesel and hydroprocessed esters, are a central part of the global initiative to reduce the environmental impact of the transport sector. The vast majority of production is currently from first-generation feedstocks, such as rapeseed oil, and waste cooking oils. However, the increased exploitation of soybean oil and palm oil has led to vast deforestation, smog emissions and heavily impacted on biodiversity in tropical regions. One promising alternative, potentially capable of meeting future demand sustainably, are oleaginous yeasts. Despite being known about for 143 years, there has been an increasing effort in the last decade to develop a viable industrial system, with currently around 100 research papers published annually. In the academic literature, approximately 160 native yeasts have been reported to produce over 20% of their dry weight in a glyceride-rich oil. The most intensively studied oleaginous yeast have been Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosus (20% of publications), Rhodotorula toruloides (19%) and Yarrowia lipolytica (19%). Oleaginous yeasts have been primarily grown on single saccharides (60%), hydrolysates (26%) or glycerol (19%), and mainly on the mL scale (66%). Process development and genetic modification (7%) have been applied to alter yeast performance and the lipids, towards the production of biofuels (77%), food/supplements (24%), oleochemicals (19%) or animal feed (3%). Despite over a century of research and the recent application of advanced genetic engineering techniques, the industrial production of an economically viable commodity oil substitute remains elusive. This is mainly due to the estimated high production cost, however, over the course of the twenty-first century where climate change will drastically change global food supply networks and direct governmental action will likely be levied at more destructive crops, yeast lipids offer a flexible platform for localised, sustainable lipid production. Based on data from the large majority of oleaginous yeast academic publications, this review is a guide through the history of oleaginous yeast research, an assessment of the best growth and lipid production achieved to date, the various strategies employed towards industrial production and importantly, a critical discussion about what needs to be built on this huge body of work to make producing a yeast-derived, more sustainable, glyceride oil a commercial reality.

From bumblebee to bioeconomy: Recent developments and perspectives for sophorolipid biosynthesis

Sophorolipids are biobased compounds produced by the genera Starmerella and Pseudohyphozyma that gain exponential interest from academic and industrial stakeholders due to their mild and environmental friendly characteristics. Currently, industrially relevant sophorolipid volumetric productivities are reached up to 3.7 g∙L^-1∙h^-1 and sophorolipids are used in the personal care and cleaning industry at small scale. Moreover, applications in crop protection, food, biohydrometallurgy and medical fields are being extensively researched. The research and development of sophorolipids is at a crucial stage. Therefore, this work presents an overview of the state-of-the-art on sophorolipid research and their applications, while providing a critical assessment of scientific techniques and standardisation in reporting. In this review, the genuine sophorolipid producing organisms and the natural role of sophorolipids are discussed. Subsequently, an evaluation is made of innovations in production processes and the relevance of in-situ product recovery for process performance is discussed. Furthermore, a critical assessment of application research and its future perspectives are portrayed with a focus on the self-assembly of sophorolipid molecules. Following, genetic engineering strategies that affect the sophorolipid physiochemical properties are summarised. Finally, the impact of sophorolipids on the bioeconomy are uncovered, along with relevant future perspectives.

Fungal biosurfactants, from nature to biotechnological product: bioprospection, production and potential applications

Biosurfactants are in demand by the global market as natural commodities that can be added to commercial products or use in environmental applications. These biomolecules reduce the surface/interfacial tension between fluid phases and exhibit superior stability to chemical surfactants under different physico-chemical conditions. Biotechnological production of biosurfactants is still emerging. Fungi are promising producers of these molecules with unique chemical structures, such as sophorolipids, mannosylerythritol lipids, cellobiose lipids, xylolipids, polyol lipids and hydrophobins. In this review, we aimed to contextualize concepts related to fungal biosurfactant production and its application in industry and the environment. Concepts related to the thermodynamic and physico-chemical properties of biosurfactants are presented, which allows detailed analysis of their structural and application. Promising niches for isolating biosurfactant-producing fungi are presented, as well as screening methodologies are discussed. Finally, strategies related to process parameters and variables, simultaneous production, process optimization through statistical and genetic tools, downstream processing and some aspects of commercial products formulations are presented.

Rhodotorula kratochvilovae CCY 20-2-26-The Source of Multifunctional Metabolites

Multifunctional biomass is able to provide more than one valuable product, and thus, it is attractive in the field of microbial biotechnology due to its economic feasibility. Carotenogenic yeasts are effective microbial factories for the biosynthesis of a broad spectrum of biomolecules that can be used in the food and feed industry and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as a source of biofuels. In the study, we examined the effect of different nitrogen sources, carbon sources and CN ratios on the co-production of intracellular lipids, carotenoids, β-glucans and extracellular glycolipids. Yeast strain R. kratochvilovae CCY 20-2-26 was identified as the best co-producer of lipids (66.7 ± 1.5% of DCW), exoglycolipids (2.42 ± 0.08 g/L), β-glucan (11.33 ± 1.34% of DCW) and carotenoids (1.35 ± 0.11 mg/g), with a biomass content of 15.2 ± 0.8 g/L, by using the synthetic medium with potassium nitrate and mannose as a carbon source. It was shown that an increased C/N ratio positively affected the biomass yield and production of lipids and β-glucans.

Genomics- and Metabolomics-Based Investigation of the Deep-Sea Sediment-Derived Yeast, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa 50-3-19/20B

Red yeasts of the genus Rhodotorula are of great interest to the biotechnological industry due to their ability to produce valuable natural products, such as lipids and carotenoids with potential applications as surfactants, food additives, and pharmaceuticals. Herein, we explored the biosynthetic potential of R. mucilaginosa 50-3-19/20B collected from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge using modern genomics and untargeted metabolomics tools. R. mucilaginosa 50-3-19/20B exhibited anticancer activity when grown on PDA medium, while antimicrobial activity was observed when cultured on WSP-30 medium. Applying the bioactive molecular networking approach, the anticancer activity was linked to glycolipids, namely polyol esters of fatty acid (PEFA) derivatives. We purified four PEFAs (1–4) and the known methyl-2-hydroxy-3-(1H-indol-2-yl)propanoate (5). Their structures were deduced from NMR and HR-MS/MS spectra, but 1–5 showed no anticancer activity in their pure form. Illumina-based genome sequencing, de novo assembly and standard biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) analyses were used to illustrate key components of the PEFA biosynthetic pathway. The fatty acid producing BGC3 was identified to be capable of producing precursors of PEFAs. Some Rhodotorula strains are able to convert inulin into high-yielding PEFA and cell lipid using a native exo-inulinase enzyme. The genomic locus for an exo-inulinase enzyme (g1629.t1), which plays an instrumental role in the PEFA production via the mannitol biosynthesis pathway, was identified. This is the first untargeted metabolomics study on R. mucilaginosa providing new genomic insights into PEFA biosynthesis.

Efficient simultaneous production of extracellular polyol esters of fatty acids and intracellular lipids from inulin by a deep-sea yeast Rhodotorula paludigena P4R5

BACKGROUND

Polyol esters of fatty acids (PEFA) are a kind of promising biosurfactants and mainly secreted by Rhodotorula strains. In addition, some strains of Rhodotorula are reliable producers of microbial lipid. Therefore, it is feasible to establish a one step fermentation process for efficient simultaneous production of PEFA and microbial lipids by a suitable Rhodotorula strain.

RESULTS

A newly isolated deep-sea yeast, Rhodotorula paludigena P4R5, was shown to simultaneously produce high level of intracellular lipid and extracellular PEFA. Under the optimized conditions, it could yield 48.5 g/L of PEFA and 16.9 g/L of intracellular lipid within 156 h from inulin during 10-L batch fermentation. The PEFA consisting of a mixture of mannitol esters of 3-hydroxy C14, C16 and C18 fatty acids with variable acetylation showed outstanding surface activity and emulsifying activity, while the fatty acids of the intracellular lipid were mainly C16 and C18 and could be high-quality feedstock for biodiesel production.

CONCLUSION

The deep-sea yeast strain R. paludigena P4R5 was an excellent candidate for efficient simultaneous of biosurfactants and biodiesel from inulin. Our results also suggested that the establishment of fermentation systems with multiple metabolites production was an effective approach to improve the profitability.

Triacylglycerols accumulation and glycolipids secretion by the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula babjevae Y-SL7: Structural identification and biotechnological applications

The newly isolated oleaginous yeast, Rhodotorula babjevae Y-SL7, was shown to accumulate high intracellular content of microbial oil (mainly triacylglycerols) and to secret, under the same culture conditions, an atypical glycolipid. This unusual behavior was induced when the strain was subjected to nitrogen limitation and high amount of carbon. A series of analytical methods was adopted in order to structurally characterize the secreted glycolipid. The latter consists of a mixture of 9 molecules formed by a polyol head group, bound through the carboxyl end of an acetylated 3-hydroxy fatty acid with C18 or C16 chain length. In addition of their physicochemical properties such as emulsifying activity on hydrophobic substrates, Y-SL7 glycolipids have shown a therapeutically promising cytotoxic effect against different cancer cell lines. In fact, Y-SL7 strain can be used for the production of triacylglycerols as energetic molecules and for the secretion of a biosurfactant of therapeutic and environmental interest.