Project description:BackgroundLignocellulosic biomass plays a crucial role in creating a circular bioeconomy and minimizing environmental impact. Enset biomass is a byproduct of traditional Ethiopian Enset food processing that is thrown away in huge quantities. This study aimed to produce caproate from Enset fiber using Neocallimastix cameroonii strain G341 and Clostridium kluyveri DSM 555 in one-pot two-step fermentation.ResultsThe process started by growing N. cameroonii on Enset fiber as a carbon source for 7 days. Subsequently, the fungal culture was inoculated with active C. kluyveri preculture and further incubated. The results showed that N. cameroonii grew on 0.25 g untreated Enset fiber as the sole carbon source and produced 1.16 mmol acetate, 0.51 mmol hydrogen, and 1.34 mmol formate. In addition, lactate, succinate, and ethanol were detected in small amounts, 0.17 mmol, 0.08 mmol, and 0.7 mmol, respectively. After inoculating with C. kluyveri, 0.3 mmol of caproate and 0.48 mmol of butyrate were produced, and hydrogen production also increased to 0.95 mmol compared to sole N. cameroonii fermentation. Moreover, after the culture was supplemented with 2.18 mmol of ethanol during C. kluyveri inoculation, caproate, and hydrogen production was further increased to 1.2 and 1.36 mmol, respectively, and the consumption of acetate also increased.ConclusionA novel microbial cell factory was developed to convert untreated lignocellulosic Enset fiber into the medium chain carboxylic acid caproate and H2 by a co-culture of the anaerobic fungi N. cameroonii and C. kluyveri. This opens a new value chain for Enset farmers, as the process requires only locally available raw materials and low-price fermenters. As the caproate production was mainly limited by the available ethanol, the addition of locally produced ethanol-containing fermentation broth ("beer") would further increase the titer.
| S-EPMC10588050 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Caproic Acid production via Chain Elongation
Project description:Clostridium thermocellum is a promising CBP candidate organism capable of directly converting lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol. Low yields, productivities and growth inhibition prevent industrial deployment of this organism for commodity fuel production. Symptoms of potential redox imbalance such as incomplete substrate utilization, and fermentation products characteristic of overflow metabolism, have been observed during growth. This perceived redox imbalance may be in part responsible for the mentioned bioproductivity limitations. Toward better understanding the redox metabolism of C. thermocellum, we analyzed gene expression, using microarrays, during addition of two stress chemicals (methyl viologen and hydrogen peroxide) which we observed to change fermentation redox potential.
Project description:Caproate (hexanoate) and other medium-chain fatty acids are valuable platform chemicals produced by processes utilizing petroleum or plant oil. Clostridium kluyveri, growing on short chain alcohols (notably ethanol) and carboxylic acids (such as acetate) is noted for its ability to perform chain elongation to produce 4- to 8-carbon carboxylates. C. kluyveri has been studied in monoculture and coculture conditions, which lead to relatively modest carboxylate titers after long fermentation times. To assess the biosynthetic potential of C. kluyveri for caproate production from sugars through coculture fermentations, in the absence of monoculture data in the literature suitable for our coculture experiments, we first explored C. kluyveri monocultures. Some monocultures achieved caproate titers of 150 to over 200 mM in 40–50 h with a production rate of 7.9 mM/h. Based on that data, we then explored two novel, syntrophic coculture partners for producing caproate from sugars: Clostridium acetobutylicum and Clostridium saccharolyticum. Neither species has been cocultured with C. kluyveri before, and both demonstrate promising results. Our experiments of C. kluyveri monocultures and C. kluyveri—C. saccharolyticum cocultures demonstrate exceptionally high caproate titers (145–200 mM), fast production rates (3.25–8.1 mM/h), and short fermentation times (18–45 h). These results represent the most caproate produced by a C. kluyveri coculture in the shortest known fermentation time. We also explored the possibility of heterologous cell fusion between the coculture pairs similar to the results seen previously in our group with C. acetobutylicum and Clostridium ljungdahlii. Fusion events were observed only in the C. acetobutylicum—C. kluyveri coculture pair, and we offer an explanation for the lack of fusion between C. saccharolyticum and C. kluyveri. This work supports the promise of coculture biotechnology for sustainable production of caproate and other platform chemicals.
Project description:Clostridium thermocellum is a promising CBP candidate organism capable of directly converting lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol. Low yields, productivities and growth inhibition prevent industrial deployment of this organism for commodity fuel production. Symptoms of potential redox imbalance such as incomplete substrate utilization, and fermentation products characteristic of overflow metabolism, have been observed during growth. This perceived redox imbalance may be in part responsible for the mentioned bioproductivity limitations. Toward better understanding the redox metabolism of C. thermocellum, we analyzed gene expression, using microarrays, during addition of two stress chemicals (methyl viologen and hydrogen peroxide) which we observed to change fermentation redox potential. High quality RNA was extracted from C. thermocellum grown on cellobiose in chemostat culture and exposed, separately, to methyl viologen and hydrogen peroxide. Transcriptome profiles were obtained at seven time points during actively growing fermentations, 3 minutes, 15 minutes, 35 minutes, 7 hours, 14 hours, 50 hours, and 60 hours after beginning exposure to each stressor. Exposure treatments were carried out in duplicate and reference/untreated samples were taken before and between treatments, after flushing of stressor chemicals and re-equilibration of growth conditions.