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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2006, p. 3228-3235, Vol. 72, No. 5
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.5.3228-3235.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Isolation and Characterization of Acid-Tolerant, Thermophilic Bacteria for Effective Fermentation of Biomass-Derived Sugars to Lactic Acid

Milind A. Patel,{dagger} Mark S. Ou, Roberta Harbrucker, Henry C. Aldrich, Marian L. Buszko, Lonnie O. Ingram, and K. T. Shanmugam*

Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Received 29 December 2005/ Accepted 16 February 2006

Biomass-derived sugars, such as glucose, xylose, and other minor sugars, can be readily fermented to fuel ethanol and commodity chemicals by the appropriate microbes. Due to the differences in the optimum conditions for the activity of the fungal cellulases that are required for depolymerization of cellulose to fermentable sugars and the growth and fermentation characteristics of the current industrial microbes, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of cellulose is envisioned at conditions that are not optimal for the fungal cellulase activity, leading to a higher-than-required cost of cellulase in SSF. We have isolated bacterial strains that grew and fermented both glucose and xylose, major components of cellulose and hemicellulose, respectively, to L(+)-lactic acid at 50°C and pH 5.0, conditions that are also optimal for fungal cellulase activity. Xylose was metabolized by these new isolates through the pentose-phosphate pathway. As expected for the metabolism of xylose by the pentose-phosphate pathway, [13C]lactate accounted for more than 90% of the total 13C-labeled products from [13C]xylose. Based on fatty acid profile and 16S rRNA sequence, these isolates cluster with Bacillus coagulans, although the B. coagulans type strain, ATCC 7050, failed to utilize xylose as a carbon source. These new B. coagulans isolates have the potential to reduce the cost of SSF by minimizing the amount of fungal cellulases, a significant cost component in the use of biomass as a renewable resource, for the production of fuels and chemicals.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, Box 110700, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. Phone: (352) 392-2490. Fax: (352) 392-5922. E-mail: shan{at}ufl.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2006, p. 3228-3235, Vol. 72, No. 5
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.5.3228-3235.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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