Improvement of solvent production from xylose mother liquor by engineering the xylose metabolic pathway in Clostridium acetobutylicum EA 2018.

Xylose mother liquor (XML) is a by-product of xylose production through acid hydrolysis from corncobs, which can be used potentially for alternative fermentation feedstock. Sixteen Clostridia including 13 wild-type, 1 industrial strain, and 2 genetically engineered strains were screened in XML, among which the industrial strain Clostridium acetobutylicum EA 2018 showed the highest titer of solvents (12.7 g/L) among non-genetic populations, whereas only 40% of the xylose was consumed. An engineered strain (2018glcG-TBA) obtained by combination of glcG disruption and expression of the D-xylose proton-symporter, D-xylose isomerase, and xylulokinase was able to completely utilize glucose and L-arabinose, and 88% xylose in XML. The 2018glcG-TBA produced total solvents up to 21 g/L with a 50% enhancement of total solvent yield (0.33 g/g sugar) compared to that of EA 2018 (0.21 g/g sugar) in XML. This XML-based acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation using recombinant 2018glcG-TBA was estimated to be economically promising for future production of solvents.