•Challenges for efficient production of optically pure lactic acid are highlighted.•Robust microbial lactic acid producers are isolated and developed.•Fermentation scheme affects lactic acid ...concentration and productivity.•Metabolic engineering improves lactic acid concentration, yield and productivity.•Genome shuffling overcomes several obstacles in the lactic acid production process.
There has been growing interest in the microbial production of optically pure lactic acid due to the increased demand for lactic acid-derived environmentally friendly products, for example biodegradable plastic (poly-lactic acid), as an alternative to petroleum-derived materials. To maximize the market uptake of these products, their cost should be competitive and this could be achieved by decreasing the production cost of the raw material, that is, lactic acid. It is of great importance to isolate and develop robust and highly efficient microbial lactic acid producers. Alongside the fermentative substrate and concentration, the yield and productivity of lactic acid are key parameters and major factors in determining the final production cost of lactic acid. In this review, we will discuss the current limitations and challenges for cost-efficient microbial production of optically pure lactic acid. The main obstacles to effective fermentation are the use of food resources, indirect utilization of polymeric sugars, sensitivity to inhibitory compounds released during biomass treatments, substrate inhibition, decreased lactic acid yield and productivity, inefficient utilization of mixed sugars, end product inhibition, increased use of neutralizing agents, contamination problems, and decreased optical purity of lactic acid. Furthermore, opportunities to address and overcome these limitations, either by fermentation technology or metabolic engineering approaches, will be introduced and discussed.
Lactic acid is an industrially important product with a large and rapidly expanding market due to its attractive and valuable multi-function properties. The economics of lactic acid production by ...fermentation is dependent on many factors, of which the cost of the raw materials is very significant. It is very expensive when sugars, e.g., glucose, sucrose, starch, etc., are used as the feedstock for lactic acid production. Therefore, lignocellulosic biomass is a promising feedstock for lactic acid production considering its great availability, sustainability, and low cost compared to refined sugars. Despite these advantages, the commercial use of lignocellulose for lactic acid production is still problematic. This review describes the “conventional” processes for producing lactic acid from lignocellulosic materials with lactic acid bacteria. These processes include: pretreatment of the biomass, enzyme hydrolysis to obtain fermentable sugars, fermentation technologies, and separation and purification of lactic acid. In addition, the difficulties associated with using this biomass for lactic acid production are especially introduced and several key properties that should be targeted for low-cost and advanced fermentation processes are pointed out. We also discuss the metabolism of lignocellulose-derived sugars by lactic acid bacteria.
Social and economic development has driven considerable scientific and engineering efforts on the discovery, development and utilization of polymers. Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most ...promising biopolymers as it can be produced from nontoxic renewable feedstock. PLA has emerged as an important polymeric material for biomedical applications on account of its properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, mechanical strength and process ability. Lactic acid (LA) can be obtained by fermentation of sugars derived from renewable resources such as corn and sugarcane. PLA is thus an eco‐friendly nontoxic polymer with features that permit use in the human body. Although PLA has a wide spectrum of applications, there are certain limitations such as slow degradation rate, hydrophobicity and low impact toughness associated with its use. Blending PLA with other polymers offers convenient options to improve associated properties or to generate novel PLA polymers/blends for target applications. A variety of PLA blends have been explored for various biomedical applications such as drug delivery, implants, sutures and tissue engineering. PLA and their copolymers are becoming widely used in tissue engineering for function restoration of impaired tissues due to their excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. The relationship between PLA material properties, manufacturing processes and development of products with desirable characteristics is described in this article. LA production, PLA synthesis and their applications in the biomedical field are also discussed.
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which are commonly used in the production of fermented foods, have been gaining attention for their antifungal and antimycotoxin properties. In this work, the strain ...Lactobacillus plantarum UM55 was selected among other LAB for inhibiting the growth of Aspergillus flavus. Further, it is shown that cell-free supernatant (CFS) of this strain inhibits the production of aflatoxins (AFLs) by 91%. This inhibition was dependent on CFS pH, increased with increasing concentrations of CFS, and was independent of fungal growth, which was inhibited only by 32%. CFS was also effective in inhibiting the growth and AFLs production in A. parasiticus, A. arachidicola, A. nomius and A. minisclerotigenes. Further, L. plantarum UM55 CFS was analysed for the presence of organic acids and the main differences compared to controls were found in the levels of lactic acid, phenyllactic acid (PLA), hydroxyphenyllactic acid (OH-PLA), and indole lactic acid (ILA). These compounds were individually tested against A. flavus, with all of the compounds showing an inhibiting effect on fungal growth and AFLs production. PLA showed the stronger effects, and the obtained IC90 for the inhibition of growth and AFLs was of 11.9 and 0.87mg/mL, respectively. AFLs IC90 for ILA, OH-PLA and lactic acid were of 1.47, 1.80, and 3.92mg/mL, respectively. The antiaflatoxigenic properties of LAB depend on strain's capability to produce lactic acid, PLA, OH-PLA and ILA.
•The CFS of L. plantarum UM55 inhibited the growth of aflatoxigenic species and their aflatoxin production.•Different aflatoxigenic species showed different susceptibilities.•The inhibition of AFLs production is not due merely to fungal growth reduction.•Those effects were lost when the CFS pH was neutralized.•Lactic, phenyllactic, hydroxyphenyllactic and indole lactic acids are mostly responsible for these effects.
Poly(lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA), a biodegradable polyester produced from renewable resources, is used for various applications (biomedical, packaging, textile fibers and technical items). Due ...to its inherent properties, PLA has a key-position in the market of biopolymers, being one of the most promising candidates for further developments.
Unfortunately, PLA suffers from some shortcomings, whereas for the different applications specific end-use properties are required. Therefore, the addition of reinforcing fibers, micro- and/or nanofillers, and selected additives within PLA matrix is considered as a powerful method for obtaining specific end-use characteristics and major improvements of properties.
This review highlights recent developments, current results and trends in the field of composites based on PLA. It presents the main advances in PLA properties and reports selected results in relation to the preparation and characterization of the most representative PLA composites. To illustrate the possibility to design the properties of composites, a section is devoted to the production and characterization of innovative PLA-based products filled with thermally-treated calcium sulfate, a by-product from the lactic acid production process. Moreover, are emphasized the last tendencies strongly evidenced in the case of PLA, i.e., the high interest to diversify its uses by moving from biomedical and packaging (biodegradation properties, “disposables”) to technical applications (“durables”).
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The control of fungal contamination is particularly important to avoid both spoilage of food and feed products and the occurrence of toxic compounds, known as mycotoxins. Some lactic acid bacteria ...(LAB) strains have shown the capacity to inhibit fungal growth and the production of mycotoxins. In this work, cell-free supernatants (CFS) of Lactobacillus plantarum UM55 and Lactobacillus buchneri UTAD104 were tested against Penicillium nordicum radial growth and OTA production. When CFS of these strains were used, the radial growth of the fungus was inhibited by less than 20%, but the production of OTA was reduced by approx. 60%. These antifungal effects resulted from organic acids produced by LAB. The CFS of L. plantarum UM55 contained lactic acid, phenyllactic acid (PLA), hydroxyphenyllactic acid (OH-PLA) and indole lactic acid (ILA), while L. buchneri UTAD104 CFS contained acetic acid, lactic acid and PLA. These organic acids were further tested individually for their inhibitory capacity. Calculation of the inhibitory concentrations (ICs) showed that acetic acid, ILA and PLA were the most effective in inhibiting P. nordicum growth and OTA production. When the inhibitory activity of LAB cells incorporated into the culture medium was tested, L. buchneri UTAD104 inhibited the production of OTA entirely in all conditions tested, but fungal growth was only inhibited completely by the highest concentrations of cells. Acetic acid production was primarily responsible for this effect. In conclusion, the ability of LAB to inhibit mycotoxigenic fungi depends on strain capability to produce specific organic acids, and those acids may differ from strain to strain. Also, the use of LAB cells, especially from L. buchneri, in food products prone to contamination with P. nordicum (e.g. dry-cured meats and cheeses) may be an alternative solution to control fungal growth and OTA production.
Two enantiomers of lactic acid exist. While L-lactic acid is a common compound of human metabolism, D-lactic acid is produced by some strains of microorganism or by some less relevant metabolic ...pathways. While L-lactic acid is an endogenous compound, D-lactic acid is a harmful enantiomer. Exposure to D-lactic acid can happen by various ways including contaminated food and beverages and by microbiota during some pathological states like short bowel syndrome. The exposure to D-lactic acid cannot be diagnosed because the common analytical methods are not suitable for distinguishing between the two enantiomers. In this review, pathways for D-lactic acid, pathological processes, and diagnostical and analytical methods are introduced followed by figures and tables. The current literature is summarized and discussed.
A feasible approach is proposed to promote the formation of the stereocomplex crystal (S.sub.c) in long-chain branched Poly(L-lactic acid)/Poly(D-lactic acid) (LCBPLA/PDLA) blends with hydrogen bond ...interactions. The synergistic effect of PDLA and long-chain branches significantly increases the crystalline ability of S.sub.c from 20.1 to 30.4% due to the improved intermolecular crystal nucleation/growth. The frequency-independent loss tangent appeared at a PDLA concentration of 5.0 wt%, indicating a transition from the liquid-like to solid-like viscoelastic and the formation of a network composed of long-chain branches and the reserved S.sub.c crystallites. Changing the processing temperatures from 190 to 230 °C seems to induce different melting behavior of S.sub.c with diverse topological conformations so as to act as a template to attract PLLA molecule chains to perform the crystallization behavior. In situ wide-angle X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that a higher cooling temperature (less than 220 °C) significantly contributes to the S.sub.c with more integrated structures and the H.sub.c-to-S.sub.c transition. The polarizing optical microscope results show that increasing the PDLA content and long-chain branched points significantly promote the spherulite growth and nuclei density of S.sub.c, increasing the S.sub.c size from 56.47 to 94.13 mum and nuclei density from 52.2 to 98.3%.
Ascending bacterial infection is implicated in about 40–50% of preterm births. The human vaginal microbiota in most women is dominated by lactobacilli. In women whose vaginal microbiota is not ...lactobacilli‐dominated anti‐bacterial defence mechanisms are reduced. The enhanced proliferation of pathogenic bacteria plus degradation of the cervical barrier increase bacterial passage into the endometrium and amniotic cavity and trigger preterm myometrial contractions. Evaluation of protocols to detect the absence of lactobaciili dominance in pregnant women by self‐measuring vaginal pH, coupled with measures to promote growth of lactobacilli are novel prevention strategies that may reduce the occurrence of preterm birth in low‐resource areas.
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