An oxidoreductase gene ZMO1116 enhances the p-benzoquinone biodegradation and chiral lactic acid fermentability of Pediococcus acidilactici

p-Benzoquinone (BQ) is a lignin-derived inhibitor to microbial strains. Unlike the furan inhibitors, p-benzoquinone is recalcitrant to traditional detoxification methods. This study shows a biological degradation of p-benzoquinone and a simultaneous D-lactic acid fermentation by an engineered Pediococcus acidilactici strain. The overexpression of an oxidoreductase gene ZMO1116 from Zymomonas mobilis encoding oxidoreductase was identified to improve the D-lactic acid fermentability of P. acidilactici against p-benzoquinone. The gene ZMO1116 was integrated into the genome of P. acidilactici and enabled the engineered P. acidilactici to convert p-benzoquinone into less toxic hydroquinone (HQ), resulting in the improved p-benzoquinone tolerance. Simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) was conducted using the pretreated and biodetoxified corn stover containing p-benzoquinone, the D-lactic acid production of the engineered strain (123.8 g/L) was 21.4 % higher than the parental strain (102.0 g/L). This study provides a practical method on robust p-benzoquinone tolerance and efficient cellulosic chiral lactic acid fermentation from lignocellulose feedstock.