Toward sustainable jet fuels: bioconversion of cellulose into isoprenoid biojet candidates using rumen bacteria and non-conventional yeast

Abstract

In this study, organic acids were demonstrated as a promising carbon source for bisabolene production by the non-conventional yeast, Rhodosporidium toruloides, at microscale with a maximum titre of 1055 mg/L. A 125-fold scale-up of the optimal process, enhanced bisabolene titres 2.5-fold to 2606 mg/L. Implementation of a pH controlled organic acid feeding strategy at this scale lead to a further threefold improvement in bisabolene titre to 7758 mg/L, the highest reported microbial titre. Finally, a proof-of-concept sequential bioreactor approach was investigated. Firstly, the cellulolytic bacterium Ruminococcus flavefaciens was employed to ferment cellulose, yielding 4.2 g/L of organic acids. R. toruloides was subsequently cultivated in the resulting supernatant, producing 318 mg/L of bisabolene. This highlights the feasibility of a sequential bioprocess for the bioconversion of cellulose, into biojet fuel candidates. Future work will focus on enhancing organic acid yields and the use of real lignocellulosic feedstocks to further enhance bisabolene production.

The synergetic effect from the combination of different adsorption resins in batch and semi‐continuous cultivations of S. Cerevisiae cell factories to produce acetylated Taxanes precursors of the anticancer drug Taxol

“…Microbial cell factories are becoming an important route for the sustainable production of different natural products and chemicals of different commercial (therapeutics, food additives, cosmetics, or biofuels) or academic relevance (Malcı et al, 2020; Walls, Otoupal, et al, 2022; Wong et al, 2017, 2018). To date, a majority of studies involving an integrated process of product synthesis and recovery have not been performed at a lab scale, which has contributed to the slow translation of microbial cell factories to fulfill industry demands (Malcı et al, 2023; Nowrouzi et al, 2023; Walls, Martinez & del Rio Chanona, & Rios‐Solis, 2022; Walls, Martinez, & Rios‐Solis, 2022).…”

The synergetic effect from the combination of different adsorption resins in batch and semi-continuous cultivations ofS. cerevisiaecell factories to produce acetylated Taxanes precursors of the anticancer drug Taxol

“…Microbial cell factories are becoming an important route for the sustainable production of different natural products and chemicals of different commercial (therapeutics, food additives, cosmetics or biofuels) or academic relevance (Malcı et al, 2020; Walls, Otoupal, et al, 2022; Wong et al, 2017, 2018). To date, a majority of studies involving an integrated process of product synthesis and recovery have not been performed at a lab scale, which has contributed to the slow translation of microbial cell factories to fulfil industry demands (Walls, Martinez, & Rios-Solis, 2022; Walls, Martinez, del Rio Chanona, et al, 2022).…”