Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Malic acid production from thin stillage by Aspergillus species

  • Original Research Paper
  • Published:
Biotechnology Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The ability of Aspergillus strains to utilize thin stillage to produce malic acid was compared. The highest malic acid was produced by Aspergillus niger ATCC 9142 at 17 g l−1. Biomass production from thin stillage was similar with all strains but ATCC 10577 was the highest at 19 g l−1. The highest malic acid yield (0.8 g g−1) was with A. niger ATCC 9142 and ATCC 10577 on the stillage. Thus, thin stillage has the potential to act as a substrate for the commercial production of food-grade malic acid by the A. niger strains.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahn JH, Sang BI, Um Y (2011) Butanol production from thin stillage using Clostridium pasteurianum. Bioresour Technol 102(7):4934–4937

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson C, Helmerius J, Hodge D, Berglund KA, Rova U (2009) Inhibition of succinic acid production in metabolically engineered Escherichia coli by neutralizing agent, organic acids, and osmolarity. Biotechnol Prog 25(1):116–123

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bashar A, Townsend A (1966) A comparative study of methods for precipitating calcium oxalate from homogenous solution. Talanta 13(8):1123–1128

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Battat E, Peleg Y, Bercowitz A, Rokem JS, Goldberg I (1991) Optimization of l-malic acid production by Aspergillus flavus in a stirred fermentor. Biotechnol Bioeng 37(11):1108–1116

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bercovitz A, Peleg Y, Battat E, Rokem JS, Goldberg I (1990) Localization of pyruvate carboxylase in organic acid-producing Aspergillus strains. Appl Environ Microbiol 56(6):1594–1597

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Domínguez KBH, Tóth IV, Souto MRS, Mendes F, De María CG, Vasconcelos I, Rangel AOSS (2010) Sequential injection kinetic flow assay for monitoring glycerol in a sugar fermentation process by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 160(6):1664–1673

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dygert S, Li LH, Florida D, Thoma JA (1965) Determination of reducing sugar with increased precision. Anal Biochem 13(3):367–374

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Elkins ER, Heuser JR (1994) Detection of adulteration in apple juice by l-malic acid/total malic acid ratio: collaborative study. J AOAC Int 77(2):411–415

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg I, Rokem JS, Pines O (2006) Organic acids: old metabolites, new themes. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 81(10):1601–1611

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez R, Campbell P, Wong M (2010) Production of ethanol from thin stillage by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Biotechnol Lett 32(3):405–411

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim Y, Mosier NS, Hendrickson R, Ezeji T, Blaschek H, Dien B, Cotta M, Dale B, Ladisch MR (2008) Composition of corn dry-grind ethanol by-products: DDGS, wet cake, and thin stillage. Bioresour Technol 99(12):5165–5176

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim Y, Hendrickson R, Mosier NS, Ladisch MR, Bals B, Balan V, Dale BE, Dien BS, Cotta M (2010) Effect of compositional variability of distillers’ grains on cellulosic ethanol production. Bioresour Technol 101(14):5385–5393

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mislivec PB, Hunter JH, Tuite J (1968) Assay for aflatoxin production by the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium. Appl Microbiol 16(6):1053–1055

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peleg Y, Stieglitz B, Goldberg I (1988) Malic acid accumulation by Aspergillus flavus. I. Biochemical aspects of acid biosynthesis. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 28(1):69–75

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peleg Y, Barak A, Scrutton MC, Goldberg I (1989) Malic acid accumulation by Aspergillus flavus. III. 13C NMR and isoenzymes analyses. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 30(2):176–183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Salazar M, Vongsangnak W, Panagiotou G, Andersen MR, Nielsen J (2009) Uncovering transcriptional regulation of glycerol metabolism in Aspergilli through genome-wide gene expression data analysis. Mol Genet Genomics 282(6):571–586

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zelle RM, Hulster E, van Winden WA, de Waard P, Dijkema C, Winkler AA, Geertman JMA, van Dijken JP, Pronk JT, van Maris AJ (2008) Malic acid production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae: engineering of pyruvate carboxylation, oxaloacetate reduction, and malate export. Appl Environ Microbiol 74(9):2766–2777

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Wang X, Shanmugam KT, Ingram LO (2011) L-Malate production by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol 77(2):427–434

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

Financial support of this project by the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station Grant SD00H198-07 was greatly appreciated.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Microbiology, South Dakota State University, Box 2104A, Brookings, SD, 57007, USA

    Thomas P. West

Authors
  1. Thomas P. West
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas P. West.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

West, T.P. Malic acid production from thin stillage by Aspergillus species. Biotechnol Lett 33, 2463–2467 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0720-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0720-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation