Production of bio-xylitol from D-xylose by an engineered Pichia pastoris expressing a recombinant xylose reductase did not require any auxiliary substrate as electron donor

Applications of the Methylotrophic Yeast Komagataella phaffii in the Context of Modern Biotechnology

Komagataella phaffii (formerly Pichia pastoris) is a methylotrophic yeast widely used in laboratories around the world to produce recombinant proteins. Given its advantageous features, it has also gained much interest in the context of modern biotechnology. In this review, we present the utilization of K. phaffii as a platform to produce several products of economic interest such as biopharmaceuticals, renewable chemicals, fuels, biomaterials, and food/feed products. Finally, we present synthetic biology approaches currently used for strain engineering, aiming at the production of new bioproducts.

Overexpression of LAS21 in Cellulase-Displaying Saccharomyces cerevisiae for High-Yield Ethanol Production from Pretreated Sugarcane Bagasse

The valorization of lignocellulosic feedstocks into biofuels and biochemicals has received much attention due to its environmental friendliness and sustainability. However, engineering an ideal microorganism that can both produce sufficient cellulases and ferment ethanol is highly challenging. In this study, we have tested seven different genes that are involved in glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) biosynthesis and remodeling for the improvement of cellulase activity tethered on the S. cerevisiae cell surface. It was found that the overexpression of LAS21 can improve β-glucosidase activity by 48.8% compared to the original strain. Then, the three cellulase genes (cellobiohydrolase, endoglucanase, and β-glucosidase) and the LAS21 gene were co-introduced into a diploid thermotolerant S. cerevisiae strain by a multiple-round transformation approach, resulting in the cellulolytic ECBLCCE5 strain. Further optimization of the bioprocess parameters was found to enhance the ethanol yield of the ECBLCCE5 strain. Scaling up the valorization of pretreated sugarcane bagasses in a 1 L bioreactor resulted in a maximum ethanol concentration of 28.0 g/L (86.5% of theoretical yield). Our study provides a promising way to improve the economic viability of second-generation ethanol production. Moreover, the engineering of genes involved in GPI biosynthesis and remodeling can be applied to other yeast cell surface display applications.

Superior separation of hemicellulose-derived sugars from eucalyptus with tropic acid pretreatment

Organic acid pretreatments can efficiently separate biomass-based hemicellulose and selectively produce hemicellulose-derived sugars. In this study, hemicellulose is separation as xylose, oligosaccharides in the tropic acid-catalyzed hydrothermal pretreatment of eucalyptus. The maximum yield of hemicellulose-derived sugars (85.78 %) with 71.25 % xylose selectivity (based on the total xylose in raw material) was achieved in the hydrolysate under optimal conditions (5 % TA, 160 ℃, 80 min). The yield of hemicellulose-derived sugar and the separation yield of hemicellulose increased by 11.06 % and 11.45 % compared with glycolic acid pretreatment in the similar severity factor. The separation yield of cellulose and lignin was decreased by 4.23 % and 0.98 %, respectively. This resulted in residual solids with higher biological stability (higher fiber crystallinity index, higher thermal stability, and higher lignin content). Therefore, higher hemicellulose separation selectivity and rich hemicellulose-derived sugars were obtained using TA pretreatment. The work would bring up a new method for biomass refining.

Advances in Komagataella phaffii Engineering for the Production of Renewable Chemicals and Proteins

The need for a more sustainable society has prompted the development of bio-based processes to produce fuels, chemicals, and materials in substitution for fossil-based ones. In this context, microorganisms have been employed to convert renewable carbon sources into various products. The methylotrophic yeast Komagataella phaffii has been extensively used in the production of heterologous proteins. More recently, it has been explored as a host organism to produce various chemicals through new metabolic engineering and synthetic biology tools. This review first summarizes Komagataella taxonomy and diversity and then highlights the recent approaches in cell engineering to produce renewable chemicals and proteins. Finally, strategies to optimize and develop new fermentative processes using K. phaffii as a cell factory are presented and discussed. The yeast K. phaffii shows an outstanding performance for renewable chemicals and protein production due to its ability to metabolize different carbon sources and the availability of engineering tools. Indeed, it has been employed in producing alcohols, carboxylic acids, proteins, and other compounds using different carbon sources, including glycerol, glucose, xylose, methanol, and even CO2.

Engineered Production of Isobutanol from Sugarcane Trash Hydrolysates in Pichia pastoris

Concerns over climate change have led to increased interest in renewable fuels in recent years. Microbial production of advanced fuels from renewable and readily available carbon sources has emerged as an attractive alternative to the traditional production of transportation fuels. Here, we engineered the yeast Pichia pastoris, an industrial powerhouse in heterologous enzyme production, to produce the advanced biofuel isobutanol from sugarcane trash hydrolysates. Our strategy involved overexpressing a heterologous xylose isomerase and the endogenous xylulokinase to enable the yeast to consume both C5 and C6 sugars in biomass. To enable the yeast to produce isobutanol, we then overexpressed the endogenous amino acid biosynthetic pathway and the 2-keto acid degradation pathway. The engineered strains produced isobutanol at a titer of up to 48.2 ± 1.7 mg/L directly from a minimal medium containing sugarcane trash hydrolysates as the sole carbon source. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of advanced biofuel production using agricultural waste-derived hydrolysates in the yeast P. pastoris. We envision that our work will pave the way for a scalable route to this advanced biofuel and further establish P. pastoris as a versatile production platform for fuels and high-value chemicals.

Xylitol production by Pseudomonas gessardii VXlt-16 from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate and cost analysis

Xylitol is a well-known sugar alcohol with exponentially rising market demand due to its diverse industrial applications. Organic agro-industrial residues (OAIR) are economic alternative for the cost-effective production of commodity products along with addressing environmental pollution. The present study aimed to design a process for xylitol production from OAIR via microbial fermentation with Pseudomonas gessardii VXlt-16. Parametric analysis with Taguchi orthogonal array approach resulted in a conversion factor of 0.64 g xylitol/g xylose available in untreated sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate (SBH). At bench scale, the product yield increased to 71.98/100 g (0.66 g/L h). 48.49 g of xylitol crystals of high purity (94.56%) were recovered after detoxification with 2% activated carbon. Cost analysis identified downstream operations as one of the cost-intensive parts that can be countered by adsorbent recycling. Spent carbon, regenerated with acetic acid washing can be reused for six cycles effectively and reduced downstream cost by about ≈32%. The strategy would become useful in the cost-effective production of several biomass-dependent products like proteins, enzymes, organic acids, as well.