Abstract
Pichia stipitis CBS 6054 was cultivated in chemostat cultures under aerobic and oxygen-limited conditions with xylitol alone, a mixture of xylitol and glucose and a mixture of xylitol and xylose. Xylitol metabolism was strictly respiratory and no ethanol was formed. Simultaneous feeding of xylitol and glucose and xylitol and xylose to oxygen-limited xylitol-pregrown cells resulted in ethanol formation. In vitro both pyruvate decarboxylase activity and alcohol dehydrogenase activity were present in cells metabolising xylitol under oxygen-limited conditions; however, this did not result in ethanol formation. Glucose, xylose and xylitol utilisation, respectively, were compared under anaerobic conditions with regard to growth rate, carbon source and oxygenation level during pre-cultivation. Irrespective of pre-growth conditions, xylitol was not metabolised under anaerobic conditions, whereas ethanol was formed from both xylose and glucose. Anaerobic xylose utilisation required induction of a xylose-utilising metabolic pathway during pre-cultivation.
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Received: 23 February 1999 / Received last revision: 20 July 1999 / Accepted: 1 August 1999
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Jeppsson, H., Holmgren, K. & Hahn-Hägerdal, B. Oxygen-dependent xylitol metabolism in Pichia stipitis . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 53, 92–97 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530051620
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530051620