Solvent production from xylose

Xylose is the second most abundant sugar derived from lignocellulose; it is considered less desirable than glucose for fermentation, and strategies that specifically increase xylose utilization in wild type or engineered cells are goals for biofuel production. Issues arise with xylose utilization because of carbohydrate catabolite repression, which is the preferential utilization of glucose relative to xylose in fermentations with both pure and mixed cultures. Taken together the low substrate utilization rates and solvent yields with xylose compared to glucose, many industrial fermentations ignore the xylolytic portion of the reaction in lieu of methods to maintain high glucose. This is shortsighted given the massive potential for xylose generation from a number of sustainable biomass feedstocks, based on utilization of the hemicellulose fraction(s) that enter pretreatment. A number of strategies have been developed in recent years to address xylose utilization and solvent production from xylose in systems with just xylose, or in systems with mixtures of glucose plus xylose, which are more typical of pretreated lignocellulose. The approaches vary in terms of complexity, stability, and ease of introduction to existing fermentation infrastructure (i.e., so-called drop-in fermentation strategies). Some approaches can be considered traditional engineering approaches (e.g., change the reaction conditions), while others are more subtle cellular approaches to eliminate the impacts of catabolite repression. Finally, genetic engineering has been used to increase xylose utilization, although this can be considered a relatively nascent approach compared to manipulations completed to date for glucose utilization.