The evaluation of hexose and pentose in pre-cultivation of Candida guilliermondii FTI 20037 yeast on xylose reductase (XR) and xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) enzymes activities was performed during fermentation in sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolysate. The xylitol production was evaluated by using cells previously growth in 30.0 gl(-1) xylose, 30.0 gl(-1) glucose and in both sugars mixture (30.0 gl(-1) xylose and 2.0 gl(-1) glucose). The vacuum evaporated hydrolysate (80 gl(-1)) was detoxificated by ion exchange resin (A-860S; A500PS and C-150-Purolite®). The total phenolic compounds and acetic acid were 93.0 and 64.9%, respectively, removed by the resin hydrolysate treatment. All experiments were carried out in Erlenmeyer flasks at 200 rpm, 30°C. The maximum XR (0.618 Umg (Prot) (-1)) and XDH (0.783 Umg (Prot) (-1)) enzymes activities was obtained using inoculum previously growth in both sugars mixture. The highest cell concentration (10.6 gl(-1)) was obtained with inoculum pre-cultivated in the glucose. However, the xylitol yield and xylitol volumetric productivity were favored using the xylose as carbon source. In this case, it was observed maximum xylose (81%) and acetic acid (100%) consumption. It is very important to point out that maximum enzymatic activities were obtained when the mixture of sugars was used as carbon source of inoculum, while the highest fermentative parameters were obtained when xylose was used.

The influence of glucose on xylose reductase (XR) and xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH) enzyme activity was evaluated from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate fermentations with different glucose:xylose ratios (1:25, 1:12, 1:5 and 1:2.5) by employing an inoculum of Candida guilliermondii grown in media containing glucose, a mixture of glucose and xylose, or only xylose as carbon sources. According to the results, the glucose:xylose ratio affected positively this bioconversion and a correlation was not observed between the favourable conditions for xylitol production and the XR and XDH activities. Also, the results were influenced not only by the glucose:xylose ratio in the fermentation medium, but also by the carbon source employed in the growth medium of the inoculum. The optimum condition for xylitol production by C. guilliermondii in sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolysate should use hydrolysate with a 1:5 glucose:xylose ratio and inoculum grown in medium containing xylose as the only carbon source.

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ABSTRACT

The effect of glucose on xylose-xylitol metabolism in fermentation medium consisting of sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate was evaluated by employing an inoculum of Candida guilliermondii grown in synthetic media containing, as carbon sources, glucose (30 g/L), xylose (30 g/L), or a mixture of glucose (2 g/L) and xylose (30 g/L). The inoculum medium containing glucose promoted a 2.5-fold increase in xylose reductase activity (0.582 IU/mgprot) and a 2-fold increase in xylitol dehydrogenase activity (0.203 IU/mgprot) when compared with an inoculum-grown medium containing only xylose. The improvement in enzyme activities resulted in higher values of xylitol yield (0.56 g/g) and productivity (0.46 g/[L.h]) after 48 h of fermentation.