Synthetic Hydrolysate Used to Study Effects of Decomposition Products on Fermentation

Engineering microbial strains for improved fermentation requires understanding of the mechanisms of inhibition that affect organisms in the presence of major components of a lignocellulosic hydrolysate. A synthetic lignocellulosic hydrolysate (SH) media with similar composition to the actual hydrolysate will be vital to perform these studies.

Xiaoyu Tang from the Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture in China, and Venkatesh Balan from Michigan State University characterized the nutrients and plant-derived decomposition products present in pretreated corn stover hydrolysate (ACH). They then used it as the basis for the artificial SH used to evaluate the effects of various decomposition products during Saccharomyces cerevisiae 424A (LNH-ST) fermentation.

While most of the decomposition products were inhibitory to fermentation, due to their abundance, the nitrogenous compounds showed the most inhibition, most notably amides. Although, the formulated SH did not perfectly match the profile of the actual hydrolysate, it was effective for studying the inhibitory effect of various compounds on yeast fermentation. The SH formulated in this work was instrumental for defining the most important inhibitors in the ACH.