Zymomonas mobilis ATCC 31821 was obtained from the American
Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and maintained as freeze
dried at 80 C till further use. The freeze dried organism was
re-hydrated with sterile water and inoculated on sucrose
broth medium and was grown for two days at 30 C, 120 rpm.
Stock cultures were either made up in 15% glycerol for long
term storage at 4 C; or it was sub-cultured on nutrient agar
plates for 72 h at 32 C, from which inoculums were prepared.
Commercial Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used for fermentation
of 6-carbon sugars. The dried yeast cells were revived
from the inactive state by using a broth containing nutrients
as shown in Table 2. Prior to fermentation, the broth was
incubated at 32 C, for 24 h, to reduce lag time.