Adaptability of a Caproate-Producing Bacterium Contributes to Its Dominance in an Anaerobic Fermentation System

摘要

The transformation of diverse feedstocks into medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) by mixed cultures is a promising biorefinery route because of the high value of MCFAs. A particular concern is how to maintain the microbial consortia in mixed cultures to achieve stable MCFA production. The Chinese strong aroma-type liquor (Baijiu) fermentation system continually produces caproic acid for decades through a spontaneous inoculation of anaerobes from pit mud into fermented grains. Therefore, illuminating the dominant caproate-producing bacterium (CPB) in pit mud and how the CPB is sustained in the spontaneous fermentation system will help to reveal the microbiological mechanisms of stable caproate production. Here, we examined pit mud samples across four Chinese strong aroma-type Baijiu-producing areas and found that a caproate- producing Caproicibacterium sp. was widely distributed in these distilleries, with relative abundance ranging from 1.4 to 35.5 and an average abundance of 11.4. Through controlling carbon source availability, we obtained different simplified caproate- producing consortia and found that the growth advantage of Caproicibacterium sp. was highly dependent on glucose. Then, two strains, named Caproicibacterium sp. strain LBM19010 and Caproicibacterium sp. strain JNU-WLY1368, were isolated from pit mud of two regions. The metabolic versatility of this species utilizing starch, maltose, glucose, and lactate reflected its adaptability to the fermentation environment where these carbon sources coexist. The simultaneous utilization of glucose and lactate contributed to the balance between cell growth and pH homeostasis. This study reveals that multiple adaptation strategies employed by the predominant CPB promotes its stability and dominance in a saccharide- and lactate-rich anaerobic habitat. IMPORTANCE The Chinese strong aroma-type liquor (Baijiu) fermentation environment is a typical medium-chain fatty acid-producing system with complex nutrients. Althou