Co-production of functional exopolysaccharides and lactic acid by Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens originated from fermented milk, kefir

Kefiran is a functional exopolysaccharide produced by Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens originated from kefir, traditional fermented milk in the Caucasian Mountains, Russia. Kefiran is attractive as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, gelling agents and also has antimicrobial and antitumor activity. However, the production costs of kefiran are still high mainly due to high cost of carbon and nitrogen sources. This study aimed to produce kefiran and its co-product, lactic acid, from low-cost industrial byproducts. Among the sources tested, whey lactose (at 2% sugar concentration) and spent yeast cells hydrolysate (at 6 g-nitrogen/L) gave the highest kefiran of 480 +/- 21 mg/L along with lactic acid of 20.1 +/- 0.2 g/L. The combination of these two sources and initial pH were optimized through Response Surface Methodology. With the optimized medium, L. kefiranofaciens produced more kefiran and lactic acid up to 635 +/- 7 mg/L and 32.9 +/- 0.7 g/L, respectively. When the pH was controlled to alleviate the inhibition from acidic pH, L. kefiranofaciens could consume all sugars and produced kefiran and lactic acid up to 1693 +/- 29 mg/L and 87.49 +/- 0.23 g/L, respectively. Moreover, the fed-batch fermentation with intermittent adding of whey lactose improved kefiran and lactic acid productions up to 2514 +/- 93 mg/L and 135 +/- 1.75 g/L, respectively. These results indicate the promising approach to economically produce kefiran and lactic acid from low-cost nutrient sources.