Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2019
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster V26
Höfundar / Authors: Eva María Ingvadóttir, Sean Michael Scully, Jóhann Örlygsson
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Háskólinn á Akureyri
Kynnir / Presenter: Eva María Ingvadóttir
Macroalgae are an abundant and underutilized renewable feedstock that can be exploited for the production of various low- and high-value biomolecules. Examples include Ulva lactuca, a green macroalgae species found along Iceland’s coasts. It is primarily composed of two polysaccharides: the rhamnose-containing ulvan and the glucose-containing starch. Rhamnose can be microbially fermented to enantiomerically pure 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD), a high-value chemical building block which historically has been synthesized as a racemic mixture from petrochemicals. In the study described herein, Ulva lactuca hydrolysates and non-pretreated macroalgae were fermented to 1,2-PD using the moderately thermophilic Clostridium strain AK1 isolated from an Icelandic hot spring. When Clostridium strain AK1 was cultivated on nonpretreated, Tyndallized Ulva lactuca medium (10% (w/v)), the production of 0,6 g/L 1,2-PD and 0,7 g/L EtOH was obtained. On 70% (v/v) Ulva lactuca water hydrolysate, 0,4 g/L 1,2-PD and 1,2 g/L EtOH were obtained at the end of incubation period. Thus, Clostridium strain AK1 is a potentially promising organism for the consolidated bioprocessing of green macroalgae. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of the production of 1,2-PD from green macroalgae using a thermophilic microorganism.