Produce D-allulose from non-food biomass by integrating corn stalk hydrolysis with whole-cell catalysis

Qing Jia; Hui Zhang; Anqi Zhao; Lingbo Qu; Wenlong Xiong; Md Asraful Alam; Jixing Miao; Weigao Wang; Feihu Li; Jingliang Xu; Yongkun Lv

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1156953

Produce D-allulose from non-food biomass by integrating corn stalk hydrolysis with whole-cell catalysis

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Feb 24:11:1156953. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1156953. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Qing Jia¹, Hui Zhang², Anqi Zhao², Lingbo Qu¹, Wenlong Xiong¹, Md Asraful Alam¹, Jixing Miao¹, Weigao Wang³, Feihu Li^{1

4}, Jingliang Xu¹, Yongkun Lv¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Shriram Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China.

Abstract

D-allulose is a high-value rare sugar with many health benefits. D-allulose market demand increased dramatically after approved as generally recognized as safe (GRAS). The current studies are predominantly focusing on producing D-allulose from either D-glucose or D-fructose, which may compete foods against human. The corn stalk (CS) is one of the main agricultural waste biomass in the worldwide. Bioconversion is one of the promising approach to CS valorization, which is of significance for both food safety and reducing carbon emission. In this study, we tried to explore a non-food based route by integrating CS hydrolysis with D-allulose production. Firstly we developed an efficient Escherichia coli whole-cell catalyst to produce D-allulose from D-glucose. Next we hydrolyzed CS and achieved D-allulose production from the CS hydrolysate. Finally we immobilized the whole-cell catalyst by designing a microfluidic device. Process optimization improved D-allulose titer by 8.61 times, reaching 8.78 g/L from CS hydrolysate. With this method, 1 kg CS was finally converted to 48.87 g D-allulose. This study validated the feasibility of valorizing corn stalk by converting it to D-allulose.

Keywords: D-allulose; corn stalk; non-food feedstock; valorization; whole-cell catalyst.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22208324, 22078308, 21908205, 22278382, 22008223), Innovation Leadership Program in Sciences and Technologies for Central Plains Talent Plan (No. 214200510009), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by Henan Association for Science and Technology (Nos. 2021HYTP022, 2022HYTP018), Program for Science & Technology Innovative Research Team in the University of Henan Province (No. 22IRTSTHN007), Key Program of Henan Provincial Science and Technology R&D Plan Joint Fund for Cultivation of Superior Disciplines (No. 222301420008), Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province of China (202300410435), State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology (KF 2012), and funding support from Zhengzhou University.