Zhi-Kui Nie

Bio: Zhi-Kui Nie is an academic researcher from Nanjing Tech University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Fermentation & Klebsiella oxytoca. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 22 publications receiving 806 citations.

Engineering Klebsiella oxytoca for efficient 2, 3-butanediol production through insertional inactivation of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase gene

Abstract: Ethanol was a major byproduct of 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) fermentation by Klebsiella oxytoca ME-UD-3. In order to achieve a high efficiency of 2,3-BD production, K. oxytoca mutants deficient in ethanol formation were successfully constructed by replace the aldA gene coding for aldehyde dehydrogenase with a tetracycline resistance cassette. The results suggested that inactivation of aldA led to a significantly improved 2,3-BD production. The carbon flux to 2,3-BD was enhanced by eliminating the byproducing ethanol and at the same time reducing the accumulation of another byproduct acetoin. At last, by fed-batch culturing of the mutant, the final 2,3-BD titer up to 130 g/l with the productivity of 1.63 g/l.h and the 2,3-BD yield relative to glucose of 0.48 g/g was obtained.

Enhancement of docosahexaenoic acid production by Schizochytrium sp. using a two-stage oxygen supply control strategy based on oxygen transfer coefficient.

Abstract: Aims: To improve the yield and productivity of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) by Schizochytrium sp. in terms of the analysis of microbial physiology. Methods and Results: A two-stage oxygen supply control strategy, aimed at achieving high concentration and high productivity of DHA, was proposed. At the first 40 h, KLa was controlled at 150·1 h−1 to obtain high μ for cell growth, subsequently KLa was controlled at 88·5 h−1 to maintain high qp for high DHA accumulation. Finally, the maximum lipid, DHA content and DHA productivity reached 46·6, 17·7 g l−1 and 111 mg l−1 h−1, which were 43·83%, 63·88% and 32·14% over the best results controlled by constant KLa. Conclusions: This paper described a two-stage oxygen supply control strategy based on the kinetic analysis for efficient DHA fermentation by Schizochytrium sp. Significance and Impact of the study: This study showed the advantage of two-stage control strategy in terms of microbial physiology. As KLa is a scaling-up parameter, the idea developed in this paper could be scaled-up to industrial process and applied to other industrial biotechnological processes to achieve both high product concentration and high productivity.

Fungal arachidonic acid-rich oil: research, development and industrialization.

Abstract: Fungal arachidonic acid (ARA)-rich oil is an important microbial oil that affects diverse physiological processes that impact normal health and chronic disease. In this article, the historic developments and technological achievements in fungal ARA-rich oil production in the past several years are reviewed. The biochemistry of ARA, ARA-rich oil synthesis and the accumulation mechanism are first introduced. Subsequently, the fermentation and downstream technologies are summarized. Furthermore, progress in the industrial production of ARA-rich oil is discussed. Finally, guidelines for future studies of fungal ARA-rich oil production are proposed in light of the current progress, challenges and trends in the field.

Cofactor engineering through heterologous expression of an NADH oxidase and its impact on metabolic flux redistribution in Klebsiella pneumoniae

Abstract: Acetoin is an important bio-based platform chemical. However, it is usually existed as a minor byproduct of 2,3-butanediol fermentation in bacteria. The present study reports introducing an exogenous NAD+ regeneration sysytem into a 2,3-butanediol producing strain Klebsiella pneumoniae to increse the accumulation of acetoin. Batch fermentation suggested that heterologous expression of the NADH oxidase in K. pneumoniae resulted in large decreases in the intracellular NADH concentration (1.4 fold) and NADH/NAD+ ratio (2.0 fold). Metabolic flux analysis revealed that fluxes to acetoin and acetic acid were enhanced, whereas, production of lactic acid and ethanol were decreased, with the accumualation of 2,3-butanediol nearly unaltered. By fed-batch culture of the recombinant, the highest reported acetoin production level (25.9 g/L) by Klebsiella species was obtained. The present study indicates that microbial production of acetoin could be improved by decreasing the intracellular NADH/NAD+ ratio in K. pneumoniae. It demonstrated that the cofactor engineering method, which is by manipulating the level of intracellular cofactors to redirect cellular metabolism, could be employed to achieve a high efficiency of producing the NAD+-dependent microbial metabolite.

Lignocellulosic biomass: a sustainable platform for the production of bio-based chemicals and polymers

Abstract: The demand for petroleum dependent chemicals and materials has been increasing despite the dwindling of their fossil resources. As the dead-end of petroleum based industry has started to appear, today's modern society has to implement alternative energy and valuable chemical resources immediately. Owing to the importance of lignocellulosic biomass being the most abundant and bio-renewable biomass on earth, this critical review provides insights into the potential of lignocellulosic biomass as an alternative platform to fossil resources. In this context, over 200 value-added compounds, which can be derived from lignocellulosic biomass by various treatment methods, are presented with their references. Lignocellulosic biomass based polymers and their commercial importance are also reported mainly in the frame of these compounds. This review article aims to draw the map of lignocellulosic biomass derived chemicals and their synthetic polymers, and to reveal the scope of this map in today's modern chemical and polymer industry.