Submitted to: Biotechnology Progress
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/12/2017
Publication Date: 5/18/2017
Citation: Saha, B.C., Kennedy, G.J., Qureshi, N., Bowman, M.J. 2017. Production of itaconic acid from pentose sugars by Aspergillus terreus. Biotechnology Progress. 33(4): 1059-1067. doi: 10.1002/btpr.2485.

Interpretive Summary: Itaconic acid is a building block platform chemical which is currently produced industrially from glucose by fermentation with a fungus. However, lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to serve as a low cost feedstock for production of itaconic acid. In this work, 100 Aspergillus terreus (A. terreus) strains were evaluated for production of itaconic acid from glucose, xylose, and arabinose. Twenty strains showed good production of itaconic acid from these sugars. This is the first report on the production of itaconic acid from arabinose and mixed sugar of glucose, xylose, and arabinose by the fungal strains. The results will be very useful in developing a process technology for production of itaconic acid from lignocellulosic feedstocks.

Technical Abstract: Itaconic acid (IA), an unsaturated 5-carbon dicarboxylic acid, is a building block platform chemical that is currently produced industrially with glucose by fermentation with Aspergillus terreus (A. terreus). However, lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to serve as a low cost source of sugars for production of IA. In this work, 100 A. terreus strains were evaluated for production of IA from glucose, xylose, and arabinose. Twenty strains showed good production of IA from these sugars. The strain NRRL 1961 produced 49.8±0.3, 38.9±0.8, 34.8±0.9, and 33.2±2.4 g IA from 80 g glucose, xylose, arabinose, and their mixture (1:1:1), respectively, per L at initial pH 3.1 and 33 degrees C. This is the first report on the production of IA from arabinose and mixed sugar of glucose, xylose, and arabinose by A. terreus.