title: Towards lactic acid bacteria-based biorefineries.
abstract: Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have long been used in industrial applications mainly as starters for food fermentation or as biocontrol agents or as probiotics. However, LAB possess several characteristics that render them among the most promising candidates for use in future biorefineries in converting plant-derived biomass-either from dedicated crops or from municipal/industrial solid wastes-into biofuels and high value-added products. Lactic acid, their main fermentation product, is an attractive building block extensively used by the chemical industry, owing to the potential for production of polylactides as biodegradable and biocompatible plastic alternative to polymers derived from petrochemicals. LA is but one of many high-value compounds which can be produced by LAB fermentation, which also include biofuels such as ethanol and butanol, biodegradable plastic polymers, exopolysaccharides, antimicrobial agents, health-promoting substances and nutraceuticals. Furthermore, several LAB strains have ascertained probiotic properties, and their biomass can be considered a high-value product. The present contribution aims to provide an extensive overview of the main industrial applications of LAB and future perspectives concerning their utilization in biorefineries. Strategies will be described in detail for developing LAB strains with broader substrate metabolic capacity for fermentation of cheaper biomass.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry: Proteomics and Metabolic Engineering of Prokaryotes, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Torino, Italy. Electronic address: roberto.mazzoli@unito.it.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mazzoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico of Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy. Electronic address: francesca.bosco@polito.it.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bosco
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Science, ARO, Volcani Research Center, P.O. Box 6Â, Bet Dagan 50-250, Israel. Electronic address: itzhakm@volcani.agri.gov.il.
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mizrahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 Israel. Electronic address: ed.bayer@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: Edward A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry: Proteomics and Metabolic Engineering of Prokaryotes, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Torino, Italy. Electronic address: enrica.pessione@unito.it.
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pessione
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology; D000440:Butanols / Q000378:metabolism; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D009785:Occupational Health Nursing; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D000440:Butanols; D054813:Polyhydroxyalkanoates; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Bacteriocins; Butanol; Cellulose; Ethanol; GABA; Mannitol; Metabolic engineering; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Polylactide