Low-temperature caproate production, microbial diversity, and metabolic pathway in xylose anaerobic fermentation

doi:10.1007/s11783-023-1637-9

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (3) : 37 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-023-1637-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Low-temperature caproate production, microbial diversity, and metabolic pathway in xylose anaerobic fermentation

Qingting Wang, Kun Dai, Jie Tang, Sidi Hong, Sijie Zheng, Ting Sun, Raymond Jianxiong Zeng(

), Fang Zhang(

)

Center of Wastewater Resource Recovery, College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

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Abstract

● Converting xylose to caproate under a low temperature of 20 °C by MCF was verified.

● Final concentration of caproate from xylose in a batch reactor reached 1.6 g/L.

● Changing the substrate to ethanol did not notably increase the caproate production.

● Four genera, including Bifidobacterium , were revealed as caproate producers.

● The FAB pathway and incomplete RBO pathway were revealed via metagenomic analysis.

Mixed culture fermentation (MCF) is challenged by the unqualified activity of enriched bacteria and unwanted methane dissolution under low temperatures. In this work, caproate production from xylose was investigated by MCF at a low temperature (20 °C). The results showed that a 9 d long hydraulic retention time (HRT) in a continuously stirred tank reactor was necessary for caproate production (~0.3 g/L, equal to 0.6 g COD/L) from xylose (10 g/L). The caproate concentration in the batch mode was further increased to 1.6 g/L. However, changing the substrate to ethanol did not promote caproate production, resulting in ~1.0 g/L after 45 d of operation. Four genera, Bifidobacterium, Caproiciproducens, Actinomyces, and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_12, were identified as the enriched caproate-producing bacteria. The enzymes in the fatty acid biosynthesis (FAB) pathway for caproate production were identified via metagenomic analysis. The enzymes for the conversion of (C_n+2)-2,3-Dehydroxyacyl-CoA to (C_n+2)-Acyl-CoA (i.e., EC 1.3.1.8 and EC 1.3.1.38) in the reverse β-oxidation (RBO) pathway were not identified. These results could extend the understanding of low-temperature caproate production.

Keywords Xylose fermentation Caproate Low temperature Bifidobacterium FAB pathway RBO pathway

Corresponding Author(s): Raymond Jianxiong Zeng,Fang Zhang

About author:

Tongcan Cui and Yizhe Hou contributed equally to this work.

Issue Date: 17 October 2022

Cite this article:

Qingting Wang,Kun Dai,Jie Tang, et al. Low-temperature caproate production, microbial diversity, and metabolic pathway in xylose anaerobic fermentation[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(3): 37.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-023-1637-9
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2023/V17/I3/37

Tab.1 Experimental conditions of xylose fermentation for caproate production

Fig.1 Metabolites production from xylose in a mesophilic CSTR reactor under acidic pH and short HRT. (a) HRT and pH values, (b) biomass and xylose concentrations, (c) gaseous metabolites, and (d) liquid metabolites.

Fig.2 Caproate and other metabolites production under HRT of 9 d. (a) HRT and pH, (b) biomass and xylose concentrations, (c) gaseous metabolites, and (d) liquid metabolites.

Fig.3 Caproate and other metabolites production in batch reactors. (a) Gaseous and (b) liquid metabolites of xylose in Stage 3, (c) gaseous and (d) liquid metabolites of ethanol addition in Stage 4. Note:

↘

in (b) means the addition of xylose.

Tab.2 Sequencing indices of enriched bacteria for caproate production

Fig.4 Rarefaction curves based on Shannon index (a) and observed OTU number (b) and the composition of bacterial phyla (c).

Fig.5 Top 15 enriched genera in low-temperature xylose fermentation.

Fig.6 Metabolic pathway for caproate production using the substrates of xylose and ethanol. Note: a blue frame marked the identified enzyme.

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