Efficient whole‐cell biotransformation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae NL22

Abstract

BACKGROUND Furfuryl alcohol (FOL) is an upgraded product from biomass‐based furfural (FAL), which has wide application in fine chemical and polymer industries. FOL can be produced by chemical approaches, but harsh reaction conditions and subsequent safety problems often pose considerable challenges for chemical methods. In contrast to chemical methods that often do not meet the requirement for green chemistry, bio‐catalysis is an attractive alternative to replace chemical methods due to its mild reaction conditions and environmental friendliness. However, FAL is a well‐known inhibitor of many microorganisms. In this study, four different wild‐type cells were screened and employed for the bioreduction of FAL to FOL using a whole‐cell system. RESULTS Among these strains, Saccharomyces cerevisiae NL22 exhibited the best transformation ability from FAL into FOL. In order to improve the conversion of FAL and selectivity of FOL, optimization of whole‐cell biotransformation using S. cerevisiae NL22 was carried out. A maximal conversion of 98% and a high selectivity of 87.9% were obtained at 30 °C and 62 mmol L−1 FAL in the presence of 1.3 mol glucose/mol FAL within 8 h. A total of 122 mmol L−1 FOL was synthesized within 24 h reaction by a fed‐batch strategy. CONCLUSION The bioprocess developed in this study is a highly efficient method for FOL synthesis. The wild‐type strain S. cerevisiae NL22 might serve as a candidate for the production of FAL to FOL as an efficient biocatalyst. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

Biocatalytic Furfuryl Alcohol Production with Ethanol as the Terminal Reductant Using a Single Enzyme

“…27−29 FAL-tolerant yeast strains like Saccharomyces cerevisiae NL22 have been demonstrated to produce up to 122 mM FOL with an 86% selectivity and a productivity of 0.5 g L −1 h −1 using 1.25 g glucose/g FOL as the feed. 24 FOL and ethanol (EtOH) co-production was also demonstrated using the FAL-tolerant yeast strain S. cerevisiae N307-12F40 with ∼80% selectivity and glucose consumption of 20 g L −1 to produce 2.35 g L −1 FOL and 5 g L −1 EtOH. 30 Reduction of the FAL analogue, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF) to 2,5-bishydroxymethylfuran (2,5-BHMF), has also been well studied in the literature using fungal and bacterial whole cells achieving up to 90−98.5% product selectivity at space time yields as high as 4.2 g L −1 h −1 .…”

“…Whole-cell biotransformation has been well studied in pursuit of a greener catalytic method of FOL production from FAL to overcome the aforementioned challenges with metal-based catalysts. − Whole-cell biotransformation has the benefits of economic catalyst preparation, intrinsic capacity for cofactor regeneration, high selectivity, and room temperature operation. With strains of bacteria like Bacillus coagulans NL01, up to 103 mM FOL titer could be produced by using 1.08 mol glucose/mol FOL as the feed at a productivity rate of 0.4 g L –1 h –1 .…”

Selective Biosynthesis of Furoic Acid From Furfural by Pseudomonas Putida and Identification of Molybdate Transporter Involvement in Furfural Oxidation

“…It was plausible that oxygen became a limiting factor as a result of the enhanced cell biomass and the oxidation reaction toward FAL was, to a large extent, necessary for oxygen although the enzyme(s) involved in this process was uncovered. Unlike the oxidation of FAL, its reduction was often efficiently occurred in facultative anaerobic strains, such as Bacillus coagulans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Yan et al, 2018 , 2019 ), indicating the non-critical role of oxygen. On the whole, the impact of cell dosage on the selectivity was slightly lower than that of pH.…”

(Chemo)biocatalytic Upgrading of Biobased Furanic Platforms to Chemicals, Fuels, and Materials: A Comprehensive Review

“…Recently, some wild microorganisms with modest furan tolerance were explored for the synthesis of FAL − and BHMF. ,− One-pot, concurrent synthesis of FAL and lactic acid by Bacillus coagulans NL01 was reported by Ouyang and co-workers from furfural and glucose in an organic solvent/buffer biphasic system . Glucose served as a carbon source to regenerate NADH for the biocatalytic reduction of furfural as well as to biosynthesize lactic acid by B. coagulans NL01.…”