Bacterial pyruvate production from alginate, a promising carbon source from marine brown macroalgae

Marine brown macroalgae is a promising source of material for biorefining, and alginate is one of the major components of brown algae. Despite the huge potential availability of alginate, no system has been reported for the production of valuable compounds other than ethanol from alginate, hindering its further utilization. Here we report that a bacterium, Sphingomonas sp. strain A1, produces pyruvate from alginate and secretes it into the medium. High aeration and deletion of the gene for d-lactate dehydrogenase are critical for the production of high concentrations of pyruvate. Pyruvate concentration and productivity were at their maxima (4.56 g/l and 95.0 mg/l/h, respectively) in the presence of 5% (w/v) initial alginate, whereas pyruvate produced per alginate consumed and % of theoretical yield (0.19 g/g and 18.6%, respectively) were at their maxima at 4% (w/v) initial alginate. Concentration of pyruvate decreased after it reached its maximum after cultivations for 2 or 3 days at 145 strokes per minute. Our study is the first report to demonstrate the production of other valuable compounds than ethanol from alginate, a promising marine macroalgae carbon source.