Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40751411›Full record

ArticleBiotechnology and bioengineering2025

Low Oxygen Availability Increases Itaconate Production by Ustilago maydis.

Marianne Volkmar, Wolfgang Laudensack, Felix Bartzack, Niklas Erdmann, Sonja Schönrock, Emely Fuderer, Dirk Holtmann, Lars M Blank, Roland Ulber

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Biotechnology and bioengineering, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Marianne VolkmarInstitute of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Kaiserslautern‑Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1091-4324
Wolfgang LaudensackInstitute of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Kaiserslautern‑Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Felix BartzackInstitute of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Kaiserslautern‑Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Niklas ErdmannInstitute of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Kaiserslautern‑Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Sonja SchönrockKarlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Emely FudererKarlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Dirk HoltmannKarlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Lars M BlankABBt - Aachen Biology and Biotechnology, iAMB - Institute of Applied Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Roland UlberInstitute of Bioprocess Engineering, University of Kaiserslautern‑Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7674-0967

Funding

This study was prepared within the project "GreenProScale-Process integration and scale-up of a biorefinery for green waste, taking into account the robustness of the system" from the innovation area "BioBall," which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grant numbers 031B1497A and 031B1497B). The laboratory of L.M.B. is partially funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy-Exzellenzcluster 2186 "FSC-The Fuel Science Center" DFG ID: 390919832.
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Itaconic acid is a monomer for high performance polymers. While produced in industry with the filamentous fungi Aspergillus terreus, the production with the smut fungus Ustilago maydis was proposed recently. The strict aerobic process suffers from high power input via gassing and stirring. Here, we investigated in detail possible scenarios for the reduction of energy use during cultivation. In contrast to fermentations with other organic acids, in which even small oxygen concentrations in the medium hinders production, low oxygen availability correlated with increased itaconic acid titer and yield. This is somewhat surprising, as not only the sensitivity of itaconic acid producing U. maydis to oxygen deprivation was previously reported, but also the lower degree of reduction compared to glucose is not directly arguing for improved yield. Scale ups from 0.4 to 30 L using different criteria confirmed the positive impact of low availability of oxygen on itaconic acid production, suggesting a shift in metabolic pathways under restricted oxygen conditions. Oxygen limitation, encountered more likely in industrial fermenters, can be effectively used as a process control strategy to enhance itaconic acid production in U. maydis, offering a new approach for improving the efficiency of industrial-scale biotechnological production.

Indexed as

OxygenSuccinatesUstilaginalesUstilagoBasidiomycotaBioreactorsCulture MediaFermentationCulture Mediaitaconic acidOxygenSuccinatesitaconic acidO2 limitationscale upUstilago maydis

Identifiers

PMID40751411
PMCPMC12503012

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.