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Metabolic engineering strategies for improving xylitol production from hemicellulosic sugars

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Abstract

Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol with potential for use as a sweetener. Industrially, xylitol is currently produced by chemical hydrogenation of d-xylose using Raney nickel catalysts and this requires expensive separation and purification steps as well as high pressure and temperature that lead to environmental pollution. Highly efficient biotechnological production of xylitol using microorganisms is gaining more attention and has been proposed as an alternative process. Although the biotechnological method has not yet surpassed the advantages of chemical reduction in terms of yield and cost, various strategies offer promise for the biotechnological production of xylitol. In this review, the focus is on the most recent developments of the main metabolic engineering strategies for improving the production of xylitol.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20306026), the National Science and Technology Major Project of New Drug, China (No. 2012ZX09103101-075), and the Industry-University-Research Institution Alliance for Microbial Medicine Technology Innovation and New Drug Development, China (No. 2010ZX090401-403) for financial support.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Buli Su, Mianbin Wu, Jianping Lin & Lirong Yang

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  1. Buli Su
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  2. Mianbin Wu
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  3. Jianping Lin
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  4. Lirong Yang
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Correspondence to Mianbin Wu or Jianping Lin.

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Su, B., Wu, M., Lin, J. et al. Metabolic engineering strategies for improving xylitol production from hemicellulosic sugars. Biotechnol Lett 35, 1781–1789 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-013-1279-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-013-1279-2

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