Salucci Emiliano, Cartenì Fabrizio, Giannino Francesco, de Alteriis Elisabetta, Raganati Francesca, Mazzoleni Stefano
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Portici, Italy.
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Mar 6;16:1512982. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1512982. eCollection 2025.
Succinic acid is an important chemical compound for biotechnological productions, being used as a basic platform to produce many industrial products in major business applications. It can be produced as fermentation end-product of anaerobic metabolism of different bacterial species, among which is largely used. Modeling microbial metabolic processes in controlled bioreactor systems is recognized as a useful tool to optimize growth conditions aimed at maximizing yield.
A novel model is presented based on System Dynamics approach in which the maintenance of the ATP/ADP balance is introduced as a key regulatory process of metabolism.
Model simulations accurately reproduce microbial growth and succinic acid production in anaerobic batch cultures at different initial glucose concentrations. Results reveal that the main limitations to maximal succinic acid production are glucose uptake restrictions and energy homeostasis costs (ATP/ADP balance) of the microbial population. The process-based modeling approach effectively describes the main metabolic processes and their regulation, providing a useful tool to define working conditions and overcome the criticalities of the SA fermentation process.
琥珀酸是生物技术生产中的一种重要化合物，用作在主要商业应用中生产许多工业产品的基础平台。它可以作为不同细菌物种厌氧代谢的发酵终产物产生，其中大量被使用。在受控生物反应器系统中对微生物代谢过程进行建模被认为是优化生长条件以实现产量最大化的有用工具。
提出了一种基于系统动力学方法的新型模型，其中引入了ATP/ADP平衡的维持作为代谢的关键调节过程。
模型模拟准确地再现了不同初始葡萄糖浓度下厌氧分批培养中微生物的生长和琥珀酸的产生。结果表明，琥珀酸最大产量的主要限制是葡萄糖摄取限制和微生物群体的能量稳态成本（ATP/ADP平衡）。基于过程的建模方法有效地描述了主要代谢过程及其调节，为确定工作条件和克服琥珀酸发酵过程的关键问题提供了有用的工具。
