Efficient polymalic acid production from corn straw hydrolysate by detoxification of phenolic inhibitors

Jun Xia; Zhongyang Qiu; Shibiao Ma; Qianqian Liu; Renxian Han; Xiaoyan Liu; Jiaxing Xu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1339982

Efficient polymalic acid production from corn straw hydrolysate by detoxification of phenolic inhibitors

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Dec 13:11:1339982. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1339982. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jun Xia¹, Zhongyang Qiu¹, Shibiao Ma¹, Qianqian Liu¹, Renxian Han¹, Xiaoyan Liu¹, Jiaxing Xu¹

Affiliation

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biomass-Based Energy and Enzyme Technology, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Regional Modern Agriculture and Environmental Protection, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, China.

Abstract

Inhibitory compounds generated from lignocellulose pretreatment would inhibit Poly (malic acid) (PMA) production by Aureobasidium pullulans, but the tolerance mechanism of A. pullulans to lignocellulosic inhibitor is poorly understood. In this study, the cellular response of A. pullulans to lignocellulosic inhibitor stress was studied. Among the three groups of inhibitors (furans, weak acids and phenolic aldehydes), phenolic aldehyde was the dominant inhibitor for PMA production. Phenolic aldehyde was mainly converted into phenolic alcohol by A. pullulans, and phenolic alcohol also exhibited severe inhibition on PMA production. Furthermore, the effect of detoxification methods on inhibitor-removal and PMA fermentation was investigated, both CaCO₃ and overliming presented poor detoxification effect, whereas resin H103 could remove both furan derivatives and phenolic compounds efficiently, thereby producing 26.27 g/L of PMA with a yield of 0.30 g/g in batch fermentation. This study will be beneficial for the development of PMA production from lignocellulosic biomass.

Keywords: detoxification; microbial conversion; phenolic inhibitors; poly(malic acid); resin H103.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (22078122 and 22208119), Major Basic Research Project of the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (23KJA180001), and the Natural Science Foundation of Huai’an City (HAN2022011 and HAP202204).