Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Vol.193, No.2, 377-388, 2021
Sophorolipid Production Using Lignocellulosic Biomass by Co-culture of Several Recombinant Strains ofStarmerella bombicolawith Different Heterologous Cellulase Genes fromPenicillum oxalicum
One of the reasons hindering large-scale application of sophorolipids (SLs) is high production cost. In this study, six recombinant strains ofStarmerella bombicola,sbEG1, sbEG2,sbCBH1,sbCBH1-2,sbBGL1, andsbCBH2 expressing cellulase geneseg1,eg2,cbh,cbh1-2,bgl1, andcbh2fromPenicillium oxalicumwere respectively constructed. Four strains showed cellulase activities and were co-cultivated in fermentation media containing 2% glucose, 1% Regenerated Amorphous Cellulose (RAC), 2% glucose, and 1% RAC, respectively. After 7 days' cultivation, concentration of SLs in medium with 1% RAC (g/L) reached 1.879 g/L. When 2% glucose and 1% of RAC were both contained, the titer of SLs increased by 39.5% than that of control strain and increased by 68.8% than that in the medium with only 2% glucose. Results demonstrated that cellulase genes from filamentous fungi inS. bombicolacan function to degrade lignocellulosic cellulose to produce SLs.