Production of highly pure R,R-2,3-butanediol for biological plant growth promoting agent using carbon feeding control of Paenibacillus polymyxa MDBDO

BACKGROUND: Chemical fertilizers have greatly contributed to the development of agriculture, but alternative fertilizers are needed for the sustainable development of agriculture. 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) is a promising biological plant growth promoter. RESULTS: In this study, we attempted to develop an effective strategy for the biological production of highly pure R,R-2,3-butanediol (R,R-2,3-BDO) by Paenibacillus polymyxa fermentation. First, gamma-ray mutagenesis was performed to obtain P. polymyxa MDBDO, a strain that grew faster than the parent strain and had high production of R,R-2,3-BDO. The activities of R,R-2,3-butanediol dehydrogenase and diacetyl reductase of the mutant strain were increased by 33% and decreased by 60%, respectively. In addition, it was confirmed that the carbon source depletion of the fermentation broth affects the purity of R,R-2,3-BDO through batch fermentation. Fed-batch fermentation using controlled carbon feeding led to production of 77.3 g/L of R,R-2,3-BDO with high optical purity (> 99% of C(4) products) at 48 h. Additionally, fed-batch culture using corn steep liquor as an alternative nitrogen source led to production of 70.3 g/L of R,R-2,3-BDO at 60 h. The fed-batch fermentation broth of P. polymyxa MDBDO, which contained highly pure R,R-2,3-BDO, significantly stimulated the growth of soybean and strawberry seedlings. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that P. polymyxa MDBDO has potential for use in biological plant growth promoting agent applications. In addition, our fermentation strategy demonstrated that high-purity R,R-2,3-BDO can be produced at high concentrations using P. polymyxa. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12934-023-02133-y.