• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.80-85
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• 2005

Electrochemical control of the metabolic flux of W. kimchii sk10 on glucose and pyruvate was studied. The growing cell of W. kimchii sk10 produced 87.4 mM lactate, 69.3 mM ethanol, and 4.9mM lactate from 83.1mM glucose under oxidation condition of the anode compartment, but 98.9 mM lactate, 84.3mM ethanol, and 0.2 mM acetate were produced from 90.8 mM glucose under reduction condition of the cathode compartment for 24 h, respectively. The resting cell of W. kimchii sk10 produced 15.9 mM lactate and 15.2 mM acetate from 32.1 mM pyruvate under oxidation condition of the anode compartment, and 71.3 mM lactate and 3.8 mM acetate from 79.8mM pyruvate under reduction condition of the cathode compartment. The redox balance (NADH/$NAD^+$) of metabolites electrochemically produced from pyruvate was 1.05 and 18.76 under oxidation and reduction conditions, respectively. On the basis of these results, we suggest that the neutral red (NR) immobilized in bacterial membrane can function as an electron channel for the electron transfer between electrode and cytoplasm without dissipation of membrane potential, and that the bacterial fermentation of W. kimchii sk10 can be shifted to oxidized or reduced pathways by the electrochemical oxidation or reduction, respectively.