Fig. 7

Conversion of biomass-derived glucose, xylose, and p-coumaric acid into bisabolene by R. toruloides. Bisabolene titers, growth, and carbon source utilization of strain BIS3 grown in (a) corn stover hydrolysate and (b) SD medium supplemented with individual components at the same concentration as those found in the corn stover hydrolysate: glucose (17.1 g/L), xylose (9.1 g/L), p-coumaric acid (383 mg/L), alpha-ketoglutarate (254 mM), and choline (586 mM). A low level of arabinose (0.98 g/L) was also detected in the hydrolysate and included in the control medium. Left panels: lines represent ODs, bars represent bisabolene titers. Right panels: glucose (red), xylose (black), p-coumaric acid (blue). 5 mL cultures in test tubes were set up at a starting OD of 0.1 with a 20% dodecane overlay. At each time point, the dodecane layer was sampled and analyzed for bisabolene and the aqueous layer was sampled for OD measurement and carbon utilization analysis (n = 3, data shown as average ± standard deviation, representative from at least two individual experiments)