Definitive Screening Design and Artificial Neural Network for Modeling a Rapid Biodegradation of Date Palm Fronds by a New Trichoderma sp. PWN6 into Citric Acid
Abstract: Generally, the bioconversion of lignocellulolytics into a new biomolecule is carried out
through two or more steps. The current study used one-step bioprocessing of date palm fronds
(DPF) into citric acid as a natural product, using a pioneer strain of Trichoderma harzianum (PWN6)
that has been selected from six tested isolates based on the highest organic acid (OA) productivity
(195.41 mol/g), with the lowest amount of the released glucose. Trichoderma sp. PWN6 was
morphologically and molecularly identified, and the GenBank accession number was MW78912.1.
Both definitive screening design (DSD) and artificial neural network (ANN) were applied, for the first
time, for modeling the bioconversion process of DPF. Although both models are capable of making
accurate predictions, the ANN model outperforms the DSD model in terms of OA production, as
ANN is characterized by a higher value of R2 (0.963) and validation R2 (0.967), and lower values
of the RMSE (13.44), MDA (11.06), and SSE (9749.5). Citric acid was the only identified OA as was
confirmed by GC-MS and UPLC, with a total of 1.5%. In conclusion, DPF together with T. harzianum
PWN6 is considered an excellent new combination for citric acid biosynthesis, after modeling with
artificial intelligence procedure
Publication year 2021
Organization Name
Author(s) from ARC
Publication Type Journal
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