An experimental and in silico analysis of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei isolated from whey shows an association between lactate production and amino acid catabolism

The production of lactic acid from agroindustry waste products, such as whey, heavily relies on microorganisms within the genus Lactobacillus. In this work, a genomescale metabolic model was implemented from Vinay-Lara (iLca334_548), improved adding some enzymatic reactions and used to analyse metabolic fluxes of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei, which is a Lactobacillus strain isolated from whey used in the large-scale production of lactic acid. Overall, the highest rate of lactic acid productivity was 2.9 g l(-1) h(-1), which equates to a dilution rate of 0.125 h(-1), when continuous culture conditions were established. Restrictions on lactic acid production caused by exchange reactions, complex culture medium and intracellular metabolite concentrations were considered and included in the model. In total, the iLca334_548 model consisted of 1046 reactions and 959 metabolites, and flow balance analysis better predicted lactate flux than biomass. The distribution of fluxes exhibited an increase in lactate formation as biomass decreased. This finding is supported by the reactions carried out by glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate formate lyase and ribose-5-phosphate isomerase, corroborating the modelled phenotype with experimental data. In conclusion, there is potential for the improvement of lactate production in a complex media by amino acid catabolism, especially when lactate is derived from pyruvate.