Succinic Acid Production from Corn Cob Hydrolysates by Genetically Engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum

• Published in: Applied biochemistry and biotechnology 2014-01, Vol.172 (1), p.340-350
• Main Authors: Wang, Chen, Zhang, Hengli, Cai, Heng, Zhou, Zhihui, Chen, Yilu, Chen, Yali, Ouyang, Pingkai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acid production; activated carbon; Activated charcoal; Aerobiosis; Agricultural biotechnology; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; biochemical pathways; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Biotechnology; Charcoal; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Corn; corn cobs; Corynebacterium glutamicum; Corynebacterium glutamicum - genetics; Corynebacterium glutamicum - metabolism; Crop production; E coli; Escherichia coli; Fermentation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; genes; glucose; hydrolysates; Hydrolysis; Lignocellulose; metabolic engineering; Metabolic Engineering - methods; oxygen; sodium carbonate; succinic acid; Succinic Acid - metabolism; Vegetables; xylose; Zea mays - metabolism
• ISSN: 0273-2289; 1559-0291
• DOI: 10.1007/s12010-013-0539-x

Corynebacterium glutamicum wild type lacks the ability to utilize the xylose fractions of lignocellulosic hydrolysates. In the present work, we constructed a xylose metabolic pathway in C. glutamicum by heterologous expression of the xylA and xylB genes coming from Escherichia coli. Dilute-acid hydrolysates of corn cobs containing xylose and glucose were used as a substrate for succinic acid production by recombinant C. glutamicum NC-2. The results indicated that the available activated charcoal pretreatment in dilute-acid hydrolysates of corn cobs could be able to overcome the inhibitory effect in succinic acid production. Succinic acid was shown to be efficiently produced from corn cob hydrolysates (55 g l⁻¹ xylose and 4 g l⁻¹ glucose) under oxygen deprivation with addition of sodium carbonate. Succinic acid concentration reached 40.8 g l⁻¹ with a yield of 0.69 g g⁻¹ total sugars within 48 h. It was the first report of succinic acid production from corn cob hydrolysates by metabolically engineered C. glutamicum. This study suggested that dilute-acid hydrolysates of corn cobs may be an alternative substrate for the efficient production of succinic acid by C. glutamicum.