Abstract
Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) have a variety of uses in the production of industrial chemicals, food, and personal care products. These compounds are often produced through palm refining, but recent work has demonstrated that MCFAs can also be produced through the fermentation of complex organic substrates, including organic waste streams. While “chain elongation” offers a renewable platform for producing MCFAs, there are several limitations that need to be addressed before full-scale implementation becomes widespread. Here, we review the history of work on MCFA production by both pure and mixed cultures of fermenting organisms, and the unique metabolic features that lead to MCFA production. We also offer approaches to address the remaining challenges and increase MCFA production from renewable feedstocks.
Highlights
Microbial fermentation processes play an important role in food production, nutrient cycling, and pollution remediation
With the exception of R. rubrum, all of the Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs)-producing isolates belong to the Firmicutes phylum, and there are currently six genera of MCFA-producing bacteria within the Firmicutes: Clostridium, Pseudoramibacter, Megasphaera, Eubacterium, Caproicproducens, and Caproicbacter
While microbial isolates are important for understanding MCFA production, the application of large-scale MCFA production is expected to rely on microbial communities using “open culture”
Summary
Microbial fermentation processes play an important role in food production, nutrient cycling, and pollution remediation. For more than 9000 years, humans have relied on microbial fermentation to produce and protect food [1], and fermentation processes have been used to convert wastes into valuable products since at least the 13th century [2]. MCTs are typically produced from the hydrolysis and separation of fatty acids from kernel or palm oil and re-esterification to a glycerol backbone, and contain 50–80% C8 [6]. With either pure cultures or mixed communities, a variety of end products are typically formed, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and MCFAs. Studies of pure cultures provide valuable insights into MCFA production, and many novel MCFA-producing organisms have been described in recent years. Future work is proposed to improve our understanding of MCFA production and to elucidate tools to improve MCFA production from complex feedstocks
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