During
proteinaceous waste valorization to produce volatile fatty
acids (VFAs), protein needs to be hydrolyzed to amino acids (AAs),
but the effects of the configuration of AAs on their biotransformation
and VFA production have not been investigated. In this study, more
residual d-AAs than their corresponding l-AAs were
observed after VFAs were produced from kitchen waste in a pilot-scale
bioreactor. For all AAs investigated, the VFA production from d-AAs was lower than that from corresponding l-AAs.
The metagenomics and metaproteomics analyses revealed that the l-AA fermentation system exhibited greater bacterial chemotaxis
and quorum sensing (QS) than d-AAs, which benefited the establishment
of functional microorganisms (such as Clostridium, Sedimentibacter, and Peptoclostridium) and expression of functional proteins (e.g., substrate transportation
cofactors, l-AA dehydrogenase, and acidogenic proteins).
In addition, d-AAs need to be racemized to l-AAs
before being metabolized, and the difference of VFA production between d-AAs and l-AAs decreased with the increase of racemization
activity. The findings of the AA configuration affecting bacterial
chemotaxis and QS, which altered microorganism communities and functional
protein expression, provided a new insight into the reasons for higher l-AA metabolism than d-AAs and more d-AAs
left during VFA production from proteinaceous wastes.