[YRS5-5] Development of green bioprocess to realize bioeconomy
Recently the concept of “Bioeconomy” has emerged, which maintains economic development while solving global environmental problems by using biotechnology and renewable resources. RITE has developed an efficient biomass utilization technology based on an inherent feature of the gram-positive bacterium Corynebacterium glutamicum, namely, it retains major metabolic pathways active while its growth is arrested. “RITE Bioprocess”, the growth-arrested bioprocess we developed, proceeds without microbial cell growth, achieving higher efficiency and productivity compared to conventional fermentative processes, in which formation of products and biomass inevitably occurs in parallel. Metabolic engineering enabled our microbial catalyst to utilize C6 & C5 sugars simultaneously, and, moreover, we found that C. glutamicum is highly tolerant to fermentation inhibitors included in cellulosic hydrolysates such as furans, demonstrating that “RITE Bioprocess” is compatible with cellulosic non-food biomass. Using the technology, we have succeeded in producing ethanol, lactic acids, and various amino acids with remarkably high yields, and gained global recognition for our achievement. We are currently applying the technology to microbial production of biofuels and aromatic green chemicals.