The impact of mixtures of xylose and glucose on the microbial diversity and fermentative metabolism of sequencing-batch or continuous enrichment cultures.

Efficient industrial fermentation of lignocellulosic waste containing a large part of glucose and xylose is desirable to implement a circular economy. Mixed culture biotechnologies can aid in realizing this goal. The effect of feeding equivalent substrates to a microbial community, such a xylose and glucose, is not well understood in terms of the number of dominant species and how these species compete for the substrates.

Diversity and metabolism of xylose and glucose fermenting microbial communities in sequencing batch or continuous culturing.

A mechanistic understanding of microbial community establishment and product formation in open fermentative systems can aid the development of bioprocesses utilising organic waste. Kinetically, a single rate-limiting substrate is expected to result in one dominant species. Four enrichment cultures were operated to ferment either xylose or glucose in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) or a continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) mode.