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Concomitant production of multifunctional metabolites on biodiesel-derived crude glycerol by the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula babjevae Y-SL7

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Abstract

Yeasts have received significant attention in recent years as major sources of value-added metabolites endowed with various natural biological activities. Among the yeasts studied until now, the so-called red yeasts have a great potential in microbial lipids and carotenoids production serving as precursor for biofuels, oleo-chemicals, and food additives. In this work, biodiesel-derived crude glycerol was used as feedstock for concomitant valuable metabolites production by the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula babjevae Y-SL7. Under specific conditions, this strain has been shown to accumulate a high intracellular content of microbial oil (> 40%) and to secrete a mixture of polyol esters of fatty acids (PEFA). Using fed-batch fermentation, the appropriate culture conditions were established for maximum lipids and carotenoids production. The characterization of extracted carotenoids reveals the presence of two major compounds, the torularhodin (63.7%) and torulene (36.3%) and their related antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were investigated. Moreover, secreted PEFAs showed therapeutically promising cytotoxic effect against cancer cells and their synergistic action with commercial drug was also established. On the other hand, flow cytometry analysis showed that culture on crude glycerol increases cells membrane permeability and further enhances metabolites recovery. This can facilitate downstream processing and therefore increase the profitability of the production system. Indeed, the present study opens new perspectives for multifunctional metabolites production using cheap industrial by-product through completely eco-friendly processes

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the whole team of the CBS-unit of analysis for their help in the analytic part. We are also grateful to Pr. Mohamed Chemkha and Mr. Nidhal Baccar (LBPE, CBS) for their help in the FTIR analysis.

Funding

This work received financial support from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Tunisia, granted to the Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology of Eukaryotes, through the Young Researcher Encouragement Project (19PEJC05-10).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology of Eukaryotes, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS), LMBE, P.O. Box 1177, TN-3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Mohamed Guerfali, Ines Ayadi, Wajdi Ayadi, Hafedh Belghith & Ali Gargouri

  2. Laboratory of Microbial, Enzymatic Biotechnology and Biomolecules (LBMEB), CBS, Sfax, Tunisia

    Slim Smaoui & Khaoula Elhadef

  3. Laboratory of Molecular Physiology of Plants, Center of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria (CBBC), Plage Ejjehmi, Tunisia

    Hatem Zaghden

  4. Unity of Analysis, CBS, Sfax, Tunisia

    Lobna Jlaiel & Emna Sahli

Authors
  1. Mohamed Guerfali
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  2. Ines Ayadi
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  3. Wajdi Ayadi
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Contributions

Resources, Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Data curation, Writing- Original draft preparation and Achievement of manipulations [Mohamed Guerfali]. Methodology, Formal analysis [Ines Ayadi]. Achievement of manipulations [Wajdi Ayadi], cells culture and cytotoxicity test assay. Achievement of manipulations [Slim Smaoui and Elhadef Khaoula], antimicrobial and antioxidant activities monitoring. Formal analysis [Hatem Zaghden]. Software [Lobna Jlaiel], analytical part. Achievement of manipulations [Emna Sahli], flow cytometry. Visualization, Investigation [Hafedh Belghith]. Validation; Writing- Reviewing and Editing, Project administration, Supervision [Ali Gargouri].

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Correspondence to Mohamed Guerfali.

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Highlights

• Biodiesel-derived crude glycerol for metabolites production by Y-SL7 strain.

• Fed-batch fermentation to enhance lipids and carotenoids yields.

• Membrane permeability and metabolites recovery.

• Structural characterization of neutral lipids, PEFA, and carotenoids.

• Potential biotechnological applications of Y-SL7 metabolites.

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Guerfali, M., Ayadi, I., Ayadi, W. et al. Concomitant production of multifunctional metabolites on biodiesel-derived crude glycerol by the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula babjevae Y-SL7. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 10237–10250 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03028-5

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