E. coli as platform for L-aspartate production from hemicellulose hydrolysates

• Grant number: 20/12428-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Roberto de Campos Giordano
• Grantee: Rafael de Paula
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/10636-8 - From the cell factory to the Biodiesel-Bioethanol integrated biorefinery: a systems approach applied to complex problems in micro and macroscales, AP.BIOEN.TEM

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass has been considered as an alternative source of energy in view of the growing concern with the development of more sustainable production processes. Thus, new technologies are being developed for the use of these agro-industrial residues as a fermentative substrate to produce compounds with high added value. From the pre-treated lignocellulosic biomass, sugars like glucose or xylose can be readily fermented, but according to the type of pre-treatment of the material, a significant fraction of C5 sugars can remain in the form of xylooligosaccharides (XOS), which are not metabolized by some important microorganisms in industrial bioprocesses, such as the bacterium Escherichia coli. Thus, to enable a better use of lignocellulosic materials for fermentative purposes with the consumption of all available sugar fractions, we propose in this project the implementation of the route of consumption of xylooligosaccharides in Escherichia coli through the heterologous expression of the xylanolytic system present in Bacillus subtilis 168. It is expected that the implementation of this route of XOS consumption will improve cell growth, and consequently also improve the productivity of metabolites of interest in the context of biorefineries. In future works, the production of L-aspartate using hydrolysates from the hydrothermal treatment of sugarcane bagasse will be used as a case study to evaluate the constructed strain.