[Metabolism of Rhizopus oryzae with xylose or glucose as carbon resource]

As one of the most abandon and cheapest recyclable bio-resources, cellulosic biomass appear to be the promising new energy if the two major components, glucose and xylose, are efficiently used.

We compared the metabolism of Rhizopus oryzae growing on glucose or xylose. We measured biomass accumulation, intercellular metabolite contents, and organic acids production.

When cultured on xylose, the rate of bio-transformation reached 35.2% compared to 24.3% in the glucose. Intercellular contents accumulated much more by using xylose as sole carbon than using glucose. However, the quantity of organic acid was less with xylose than with glucose. In addition, during the coexistence of both substrates, Rhizopus oryzae utilizes glucose first, and xylose later when the glucose is almost exhausted.

With our data analysis, both the NADH/NAD + and ATP quantity are differed between the utilization of two carbon resources. In xylose, biological macromolecule and biomass accumulation are in advantage, while in glucose, the inorganic acid production is enhanced.