Comb spectroscopy of CO2 produced from microbial metabolism

Joshua A Whitaker-Lockwood; Sarah K Scholten; Faisal Karim; André N Luiten; Christopher Perrella

doi:10.1364/BOE.515988

Comb spectroscopy of CO₂ produced from microbial metabolism

Biomed Opt Express. 2024 Feb 12;15(3):1553-1570. doi: 10.1364/BOE.515988. eCollection 2024 Mar 1.

Authors

Joshua A Whitaker-Lockwood¹, Sarah K Scholten^{1

2}, Faisal Karim¹, André N Luiten^{1

2}, Christopher Perrella^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.
² ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science (COMBS), University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.
³ Centre of Light for Life and School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia.

Abstract

We have developed a direct frequency comb spectroscopy instrument, which we have tested on Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast) by measuring its CO₂ output and production rate as we varied the environmental conditions, including the amount and type of feed sugar, the temperature, and the amount of yeast. By feeding isotopically-enhanced sugar to the yeast, we demonstrate the capability of our device to differentiate between two isotopologues of CO₂, with a concentration measurement precision of 260 ppm for ¹²C¹⁶O₂ and 175 ppm for ¹³C¹⁶O₂. We also demonstrate the ability of our spectrometer to measure the proportion of carbon in the feed sugar converted to CO₂, and estimate the amount incorporated into the yeast biomass.