Adaptive evolution of Clostridium butyricum and scale‐Up for high‐Concentration 1,3‐propanediol production

Abstract

In order to obtain the excellent 1,3‐propanediol (1,3‐PDO) producer from wild‐type Clostridium butyricum, adaptive evolution was carried out to select the strain for fast growth. The most significant change was that fermentation time decreased from 36 h to 20 h after adaptive evolution. Thus, it led to the corresponding volumetric productivity of 1,3‐PDO increasing from 0.97 to 2.14 (g/L·h−1) which increased by 114%. Adaptive evolution was also applied to butyric acid tolerant strain selected based on the fast‐growing one through a simple equipment. 1,3‐PDO concentration increased from 40.28 to 66.23 g/L through fed‐batch fermentation by butyric acid tolerant strain compared with the fast‐growing one. In addition, the endpoint strain was successfully and steadily used in the 50‐L scale fermentation. Thus, adaptive evolution is an excellent strategy which can help us select the fast‐growing strain and reduce the negative effect from substrate and metabolite inhibition. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 32–39, 2019