High rate 2,3-butanediol production with Vibrio natriegens

The aim of this study was to investigate if the high substrate turnover rates of Vibrio natriegens enable 2,3-butanediol production at high productivities. Introduction of a heterologous pathway led to 2,3-butanediol production at yields comparable to Escherichia coli using glucose, sucrose and sugar beet molasses. Microaerobic fed-batch cultivations maintained at 0–1% dissolved oxygen yielded a combined diol titer of 49.9 g L−1 of 2,3-butanediol and acetoin and a production rate of 3.9 g L−1 h−1. Optimization of the oxygen supply in chemostat cultivations increased the product yield to 70% of the theoretical maximum at volumetric and specific production rates of 2 g L−1 h−1 and 0.66 g g−1 h−1, respectively. In conclusion, this study could for the first time demonstrate V. natriegens as novel host for 2,3-butanediol production with high volumetric and specific productivity, underlining its potential for microbial chemical production.