Organic acid toxicity, tolerance, and production in Escherichia coli biorefining applications.

ABSTRACT: Organic acids are valuable platform chemicals for future biorefining applications. Such applications involve the conversion of low-cost renewable resources to platform sugars, which are then converted to platform chemicals by fermentation and further derivatized to large-volume chemicals through conventional catalytic routes. Organic acids are toxic to many of the microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, proposed to serve as biorefining platform hosts at concentrations well below what is required for economical production. The toxicity is two-fold including not only pH based growth inhibition but also anion-specific effects on metabolism that also affect growth. E. coli maintain viability at very low pH through several different tolerance mechanisms including but not limited to the use of

SUBMITTER: Warnecke T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1208944 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature