Immobilization of mixed bacteria by microcapsulation for hydrogen production--a trial of pseudo "Cell Factory" / 生物工程学报

Sodium cellulose sulfate (NaCS)/Ploy-dimethyl-dially-ammonium-chloride (PDMDAAC) microcapsules were used as a novel pseudo "Cell Factory" to immobilize mixed bacteria for hydrogen production under anaerobic conditions. Compared to free cells, the hydrogen production was increased more than 30% with NaCS/PDMDAAC microcapsules as the pseudo "Cell Factory". The biomass was increased from 1.5 g/L in free cell culture to 3.2 g/L in the pseudo "Cell Factory". This pseudo "Cell Factory" system showed the excellent stability during 15 repeated-batches. The hydrogen yield maintained 1.73-1.81 mol H2/mol glucose. The fermentation cycle was shortened from 48 h to 24 h, resulting in an increase of 198.6% in the hydrogen production rate. There were high percentage of butyric acid and acetic acid in the culture broth, which meant that the pseudo "Cell Factory" established in the present work could be used for the multi-product system.

Effect of different carbon sources on pyruvic acid production by using lpdA gene knockout Escherichia coli / 生物工程学报

We studied the ability of lpdA gene knockout Escherichia coli to ferment different sugars in mineral salts medium for the production of pyruvate. The sugars studied were glucose, fructose, xylose and mannose at a concentration of 10 g/L. At the same time, effect of inoculum size on lpdA fermentation with glucose was studied. The strain was able to use all sugars for biomass generation and pyruvate production. The lpdA knockout mutant converted glucose, fructose, xylose and mannose to pyruvate with yields of 0.884 g/g, 0.802 g/g, 0.817 g/g and 0.808 g/L, respectively. The pyruvate accumulation curve coupled with cell growth except for mannose as carbon source. When the inoculation size increased, the rate of glucose consumption, pyruvate accumulation and cell growth increased but lower pyruvate concentration. This study demonstrates that E. coli lpdA mutant has the potential to produce pyruvic acid from xylose and mannose.