One-step production of a novel prebiotic mixture using Zymomonas mobilis ZM4

Zymomonas mobilis ZM4 presents interesting features for the biotechnological production of prebiotics. In this work, a Box-Behnken design approach was used to optimize the medium composition and maximize the fructooligosaccharides (FOS) production, in a one-step process. Afterwards, the scale-up to bioreactor allowed a high yield, titer and productivity of FOS (0.52 ± 0.05 gFOS gSuc−1, 156.50 ± 0.58 g L−1, 4.89 ± 0.88 g L−1 h−1). Furthermore, after 72 h, 86.69 ± 3.70 g L−1 of ethanol, 8.0 ± 0.9 g L−1 of levan and 45.62 ± 2.70 g L−1 of sorbitol were also produced. After purification (purity degree of 80.9%), an in vitro model using human fecal inoculum was used to assess the prebiotic potential of the FOS-enriched mixture. Herein we describe for the first time a one-step approach to produce a prebiotic mixture with market potential as a functional food ingredient using Z. mobilis ZM4.