Optimization of medium composition for butyric acid production by Clostridium thermobutyricum using response surface methodology

Consolidated microbial production of four-, five-, and six-carbon organic acids from crop residues: Current status and perspectives

The production of platform organic acids has been heavily dependent on petroleum-based industries. However, petrochemical-based industries that cannot guarantee a virtuous cycle of carbons released during various processes are now facing obsolescence because of the depletion of finite fossil fuel reserves and associated environmental pollutions. Thus, the transition into a circular economy in terms of the carbon footprint has been evaluated with the development of efficient microbial cell factories using renewable feedstocks. Herein, the recent progress on bio-based production of organic acids with four-, five-, and six-carbon backbones, including butyric acid and 3-hydroxybutyric acid (C4), 5-aminolevulinic acid and citramalic acid (C5), and hexanoic acid (C6), is discussed. Then, the current research on the production of C4-C6 organic acids is illustrated to suggest future directions for developing crop-residue based consolidated bioprocessing of C4-C6 organic acids using host strains with tailor-made capabilities.

Design of experiments and design space approaches in the pharmaceutical bioprocess optimization

The optimization of pharmaceutical bioprocesses suffers from several challenges like complexity, upscaling costs, regulatory approval, leading to the risk of delivering substandard drugs to patients. Bioprocess is very complex and requires the evaluation of multiple components that need to be monitored and controlled in order to attain the desired state when the process ends. Statistical design of experiments (DoE) is a powerful tool for optimizing bioprocesses because it plays a critical role in the quality by design strategy as it is useful in exploring the experimental domain and providing statistics of interest that enable scientists to understand the impact of critical process parameters on the critical quality attributes. This review summarizes selected publications in which DoE methodology was used to optimize bioprocess. The main objective of the critical review was to clearly demonstrate potential benefits of using the DoE and design space methodologies in bioprocess optimization.

Dynamic metabolic modelling predicts efficient acetogen-gut bacterium cocultures for CO-to-butyrate conversion

AIMS

While gas-fermenting acetogens have been engineered to secrete non-native metabolites such as butyrate, acetate remains the most thermodynamically favourable product. An alternative to metabolic engineering is to exploit native capabilities for CO-to-acetate conversion by coculturing an acetogen with a second bacterium that provides efficient acetate-butyrate conversion.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We used dynamic metabolic modelling to computationally evaluate the CO-to-butyrate conversion capabilities of candidate coculture systems by exploiting the diversity of human gut bacteria for anaerobic synthesis of butyrate from acetate and ethanol. A preliminary screening procedure based on flux balance analysis was developed to identify 48 gut bacteria which satisfied minimal growth rate and acetate-to-butyrate conversion requirements when cultured on minimal medium containing acetate and a simple sugar not consumed by the paired acetogen. A total of 170 acetogen/gut bacterium/sugar combinations were dynamically simulated for continuous growth using a 70/30 CO/CO₂ feed gas mixture and minimal medium computationally determined for each combination.

CONCLUSIONS

While coculture systems involving the acetogens Eubacterium limosum or Blautia producta yielded low butyrate productivities and CO-to-ethanol conversion had minimal impact on system performance, dynamic simulations predicted a large number of promising coculture designs with Clostridium ljungdahlii or C. autoethanogenum as the CO-to-acetate converter. Pairings with the gut bacterium Clostridium hylemonae or Roseburia hominis were particularly promising due to their ability to generate high butyrate productivities over a range of dilution rates with a variety of sugars. The higher specific acetate secretion rate of C. ljungdahlii proved more beneficial than the elevated growth rate of C. autoethanogenum for coculture butyrate productivity.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Our study demonstrated that metabolic modelling could provide useful insights into coculture design that can guide future experimental studies. More specifically, our predictions generated several favourable designs, which could serve as the first coculture systems realized experimentally.

Effects of benzyl viologen on increasing NADH availability, acetate assimilation, and butyric acid production by Clostridium tyrobutyricum

Clostridium tyrobutyricum produces butyric and acetic acids from glucose. The butyric acid yield and selectivity in the fermentation depend on NADH available for acetate reassimilation to butyric acid. In this study, benzyl viologen (BV), an artificial electron carrier that inhibits hydrogen production, was used to increase NADH availability and butyric acid production while eliminating acetic acid accumulation by facilitating its reassimilation. To better understand the mechanism of and find the optimum condition for BV effect on enhancing acetate assimilation and butyric acid production, BV at various concentrations and addition times during the fermentation were studied. Compared with the control without BV, the addition of 1 μM BV increased butyric acid production from glucose by ∼50% in yield and ∼29% in productivity while acetate production was completely inhibited. Furthermore, BV also increased the coutilization of glucose and exogenous acetate for butyric acid production. At a concentration ratio of acetate (g/L) to BV (mM) of 4, both acetate assimilation and butyrate biosynthesis increased with increasing the concentrations of BV (0-6.25 μM) and exogenous acetate (0-25 g/L). In a fed-batch fermentation with glucose and ∼15 g/L acetate and 3.75 μM BV, butyrate production reached 55.9 g/L with productivity 0.93 g/L/h, yield 0.48 g/g, and 97.4% purity, which would facilitate product purification and reduce production cost. Manipulating metabolic flux and redox balance via BV and acetate addition provided a simple to implement metabolic process engineering approach for butyric acid production from sugars and biomass hydrolysates.

A techno-practical method for overcoming the biotoxicity and volatility obstacles of butanol and butyric acid during whole-cell catalysis by Gluconobacter oxydans

BACKGROUND

Butyric acid is a platform chemical material, the production of which has been greatly stimulated by the diverse range of downstream applications in many industries. In particular, higher quality butyric acid used in food and medicine, is more dependent on microbiological production methods. Hence, the bio-oxidation of butanol to butyric acid has been identified as a promising method with good potential economic and environmental benefits. However, both butanol and butyric acid are usually intensively toxic to most microorganisms as well as the bio-oxidation pathway. To develop a green, efficient and competitive microbiological method is the primary work to overcome the bottleneck of butyric acid industry.

RESULT

A combined bioprocess was designed with alternative whole-cell catalysis for butyric acid bio-conversion from butanol by Gluconobacter oxydans in a sealed-oxygen supply bioreactor (SOS). In the operation system, the escape of volatile substrates and toxic chemicals to cells can be avoided by the use of a sealed bioreactor, combined with the rejuvenation of cells by supplying energy co-factors. Finally, during a one-batch whole-cell catalysis, the utilization rate of substrate increased from 56.6 to 96.0% by the simple skill. Additionally, the techno-practical bioprocess can realize the purpose of cell-recycling technology through the rejuvenation effect of co-factor. Finally, we obtained 135.3 g/L butyric acid and 216.7 g/L sorbose during a 60-h whole-cell catalysis. This techno-practical technology provides a promising approach to promote the industrial production of butyric acid with more competitiveness.

CONCLUSION

The techno-practical biotechnology has powerfully promoted the process of butyric acid production by microorganisms, especially makes up for the lack of aerobic fermentation in the industry, and surmounts the shortcomings of traditional anaerobic fermentation. At the same time, this technically practical system provides a promising approach for the promotion of the industrial production of butyric acid in a more competitive manner.

Metabolic modeling of bacterial co-culture systems predicts enhanced carbon monoxide-to-butyrate conversion compared to monoculture systems

We used metabolic modeling to computationally investigate the potential of bacterial coculture system designs for CO conversion to the platform chemical butyrate. By taking advantage of the native capabilities of wild-type strains, we developed two anaerobic coculture designs by combining Clostridium autoethanogenum for CO-to-acetate conversion with bacterial strains that offer high acetate-to-butyrate conversion capabilities: the environmental bacterium the human gut bacteriumEubacterium rectale. When grown in continuous stirred tank reactor on a 70/0/30 CO/H₂/N₂ gas mixture, the C. autoethanogenum-C Kluyveri co-culture was predicted to offer no mprovement in butyrate volumetric productivity compared to an engineered C. autoethanogenum monoculture despite utilizing vinyl acetate as a secondary carbon source for C. kluyveri growth enhancement. A coculture consisting of C. autoethanogenum and C. kluyveri engineered in silico to eliminate hexanoate synthesis was predicted to enhance both butyrate productivity and titer. The C. autoethanogenum-E. rectale coculture offered similar improvements in butyrate productivity without the need for metabolic engineering when glucose was provided as a secondary carbon source to enhance E. rectale growth. A bubble column model developed to assess the potential for large-scale butyrate production of the C. autoethanogenum-E. rectale design predicted that a 40/30/30 CO/H₂/N₂ gas mixture and a 5 m column length would be preferred to enhance C. autoethanogenum growth and counteract CO inhibitory effects on E. rectale.

Butyric acid: Applications and recent advances in its bioproduction

Butyric acid is an important C4 organic acid with broad applications. It is currently produced by chemosynthesis from petroleum-based feedstocks. However, the fermentative production of butyric acid from renewable feedstocks has received growing attention because of consumer demand for green products and natural ingredients in foods, pharmaceuticals, animal feed supplements, and cosmetics. In this review, strategies for improving microbial butyric acid production, including strain engineering and novel fermentation process development are discussed and compared regarding product yield, titer, purity and productivity. Future perspectives on strain and process improvements for butyric acid production are also discussed.

Improvement of n-caproic acid production with Ruminococcaceae bacterium CPB6: selection of electron acceptors and carbon sources and optimization of the culture medium

Background

Global energy and resource shortages make it necessary to quest for renewable resources. n-Caproic acid (CA) production based on carboxylate platform by anaerobic fermentation is booming. Recently, a novel Ruminococcaceae bacterium CPB6 is shown to be a potential biotransformation factory for CA production from lactate-containing wastewater. However, little is known about the effects of different electron acceptors (EAs) on the fermentative products of strain CPB6, as well as the optimum medium for CA production.

Results

In this study, batch experiments were performed to investigate the fermentative products of strain CPB6 in a lactate medium supplemented with different EAs and sugars. Supplementation of acetate, butyrate and sucrose dramatically increased cell growth and CA production. The addition of propionate or pentanoate resulted in the production of C5 or C7 carboxylic acid, respectively. Further, a Box–Behnken experiment was conducted to optimize the culture medium for CA production. The result indicated that a medium containing 13.30 g/L sucrose, 22.35 g/L lactate and 16.48 g/L butyrate supported high-titer CA production (16.73 g/L) with a maximum productivity of 6.50 g/L/day.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that strain CPB6 could produce C6–C7 carboxylic acids from lactate (as electron donor) with C2–C5 short-chain carboxylic acids (as EAs), but CA (C6 carboxylic acid) was the most major and potential product. Butyrate and sucrose were the most significant EA and carbon source respectively for CA production from lactate by strain CPB6. High titer of CA can be produced from a synthetic substrate containing sucrose, lactate and butyrate. The work provided significant implications for improving CA production in industry-scale.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-018-0946-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Recent advances and strategies in process and strain engineering for the production of butyric acid by microbial fermentation

Butyric acid is an important platform chemical, which is widely used in the fields of food, pharmaceutical, energy, etc. Microbial fermentation as an alternative approach for butyric acid production is attracting great attention as it is an environmentally friendly bioprocessing. However, traditional fermentative butyric acid production is still not economically competitive compared to chemical synthesis route, due to the low titer, low productivity, and high production cost. Therefore, reduction of butyric acid production cost by utilization of alternative inexpensive feedstock, and improvement of butyric acid production and productivity has become an important target. Recently, several advanced strategies have been developed for enhanced butyric acid production, including bioprocess techniques and metabolic engineering methods. This review provides an overview of advances and strategies in process and strain engineering for butyric acid production by microbial fermentation. Additionally, future perspectives on improvement of butyric acid production are also proposed.

Fermentation of sweet sorghum derived sugars to butyric acid at high titer and productivity by a moderate thermophile Clostridium thermobutyricum at 50°C

In this study, a moderate thermophile Clostridium thermobutyricum is shown to ferment the sugars in sweet sorghum juice treated with invertase and supplemented with tryptone (10 g L(-1)) and yeast extract (10 g L(-1)) at 50°C to 44 g L(-1) butyrate at a calculated highest volumetric productivity of 1.45 g L(-1)h(-1) (molar butyrate yield of 0.85 based on sugars fermented). This volumetric productivity is among the highest reported for batch fermentations. Sugars from acid and enzyme-treated sweet sorghum bagasse were also fermented to butyrate by this organism with a molar yield of 0.81 (based on the amount of cellulose and hemicellulose). By combining the results from juice and bagasse, the calculated yield of butyric acid is approximately 90 kg per tonne of fresh sweet sorghum stalk. This study demonstrates that C. thermobutyricum can be an effective microbial biocatalyst for production of bio-based butyrate from renewable feedstocks at 50°C.

Response surface methodology optimization of fermentation conditions for rapid and efficient accumulation of macrolactin A by marine Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ESB-2

In the present work, an antibiotic-producing marine bacterium was isolated from a seawater sample collected from Yuhuan, Zhejiang, China, identified and named as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ESB-2 on the basis of phenotypic characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the fermentation conditions for rapid and efficient accumulation of macrolactin A, a pharmacologically important marine antibiotic. Eight fermentation conditions were examined for their significance on macrolactin A production using Plackett–Burman factorial design, where peptone, medium volume and temperature significantly improved production rate. Further optimization was carried out using Box-Behnken design of experiments to study the influence of process variables. The optimized fermentation condition for maximum production was peptone 14.8 mg/mL, yeast extract 1 mg/mL, FePO₄ 0.01 mg/mL, temperature 26.3 °C, initial pH value 6.0, medium volume 72.4%, rotation speed 150 r/min, inoculation 5% and fermented for 2 days. Under the optimized conditions, the concentration of macrolactin A reached 21.63 mg/L, representing a 2.4-fold increase compared to the original standard condition, which was also 17% higher than previous highest report of 18.5 mg/L and three times higher in terms of daily productivity.

Statistical optimization of process variables for antibiotic activity of Xenorhabdus bovienii

The production of secondary metabolites with antibiotic properties is a common characteristic to entomopathogenic bacteria Xenorhabdus spp. These metabolites not only have diverse chemical structures but also have a wide range of bioactivities of medicinal and agricultural interests. Culture variables are critical to the production of secondary metabolites of microorganisms. Manipulating culture process variables can promote secondary metabolite biosynthesis and thus facilitate the discovery of novel natural products. This work was conducted to evaluate the effects of five process variables (initial pH, medium volume, rotary speed, temperature, and inoculation volume) on the antibiotic production of Xenorhabdus bovienii YL002 using response surface methodology. A 2^5–1 factorial central composite design was chosen to determine the combined effects of the five variables, and to design a minimum number of experiments. The experimental and predicted antibiotic activity of X. bovienii YL002 was in close agreement. Statistical analysis of the results showed that initial pH, medium volume, rotary speed and temperature had a significant effect (P<0.05) on the antibiotic production of X. bovienii YL002 at their individual level; medium volume and rotary speed showed a significant effect at a combined level and was most significant at an individual level. The maximum antibiotic activity (287.5 U/mL) was achieved at the initial pH of 8.24, medium volume of 54 mL in 250 mL flask, rotary speed of 208 rpm, temperature of 32.0°C and inoculation volume of 13.8%. After optimization, the antibiotic activity was improved by 23.02% as compared with that of unoptimized conditions.

Enhanced production of a novel cyclic hexapeptide antibiotic (NW-G01) by Streptomyces alboflavus 313 using response surface methodology

NW-G01, produced by Streptomyces alboflavus 313, is a novel cyclic hexapeptide antibiotic with many potential applications, including antimicrobial activity and antitumor agents. This study developed a system for optimizing medium components in order to enhance NW-G01 production. In this study, Plackett-Burman design (PBD) was used to find the key ingredients of medium components, and then response surface methodology (RSM) was implemented to determine their optimal concentrations. The results of PBD revealed that the crucial ingredients related to the production of NW-G01 were (NH(4))(2)SO(4), peptone and CaCO(3). A prediction model has been built in the experiments of central composite design and response surface methodology, and its validation has been further verified. The optimal medium composition was determined (g/L): corn starch 15, glucose 15, peptone 3.80, (NH(4))(2)SO(4) 0.06, NaCl 1.5, CaCO(3) 1.30, MgSO(4)·7H(2)O 0.015, K(2)HPO(4)·3H(2)O 0.015, MnCl(2)·4H(2)O 0.015, FeSO(4)·7H(2)O 0.015, and ZnSO(4)·7H(2)O 0.015. Compared with NW-G01 production (5.707 mg/L) in non-optimized fermentation medium, the production of NW-G01 (15.564 mg/L) in optimized fermentation medium had a 2.73-fold increase.

Optimization of immobilization for selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol by Gluconobacter oxydans using response surface methodology

This study used the Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology to optimize immobilization of Gluconobacter oxydans in Ca-alginate gel for the production of benzaldehyde in a biphasic system. Immobilization parameters, such as Na-alginate concentration, cell load, and bead diameter, were optimized. The mathematical model developed was validated and proven to be statistically adequate and accurate in predicting the response. For both activity and stability responses, the best results were achieved at alginate concentration of 2.55% (w/v), cell load of 49.26 mg/ml, and 2.2 mm bead diameter. Under these conditions, retention activity of 87.6% could be attained for the immobilized cell. In addition, the oxidative activity of immobilized cells was retained at 53.2% compared with that of free cells after 10 repeated batch reactions, while only 15.7% of activity remained in free cells.

Production of cytidine 5'-diphosphorylcholine with high utilization of ATP by whole cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cytidine 5'-diphosphorylcholine (CDP-choline) was produced using a high efficiency ATP regeneration system and the Kennedy pathway in whole cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae As 2.398. Out of eight variables, KH(2)PO(4), glycerol and (NH(4))(2)SO(4) were considered to be the most significant factors by response surface methodology including a Plackett-Burman design, path of steepest accent and central composite design. The optimum levels of the three variables were 20.13g/L KH(2)PO(4), 12.35g/L glycerol and 0.49g/L (NH(4))(2)SO(4), respectively. Energy utilization efficiency increased from 10.59% to 16.72% and choline chloride conversion yields increased from 12.35% to 42.78%. A high efficiency ATP regeneration system improves CDP-choline production.

Statistical optimization of culture condition for enhanced hydrogen production by Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum W16

The optimization of culture condition for enhanced hydrogen production by Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum W16 was conducted using statistical experimental design and analysis. Plackett-Burman design was first used to screen the most important variables influencing hydrogen production, and subsequently central composite design was adopted to investigate the optimum value of the selected factors for achieving maximum hydrogen yield. Experimental results showed that xylose, phosphate buffer, and yeast extract had significant influence on hydrogen production and the maximum hydrogen yield of 2.39 mol/mol xylose was predicted when the concentrations of xylose, phosphate buffer, and yeast extract were 12.24 g/L, 0.170 M, and 4.11 g/L, respectively. The results were further verified by repeated experiments under optimal conditions. The excellent correlation between predicted and measured values further confirmed the validity and practicability of this statistical optimum strategy.

Current progress on butyric acid production by fermentation

Several issues of butyric acid production with bacteria through fermentation are presented in this review. The current progress including the utilization of butyric acid, the production strains, the metabolic pathway, and regulation are presented in the paper. Process operation modes such as batch, fed-batch, and continuous fermentation are being discussed. Genetic engineering technologies for microbial strain improvement are also being discussed and fermentation systems have been recommended.