Abstract
5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) was produced aerobically in the dark during growth on glucose by a newly isolated Chlorella sp. When levulinic acid (20 mM), a competitive inhibitor of ALA dehydratase, was added repeatedly to the medium, about 1.5 mM of ALA was produced extracellularly. Glutamate (30 mM) added with levulinic acid (20 mM, given repeatedly) enhanced ALA production up to 1.9 mM, indicating that ALA might be synthesized via the C-5 pathway.
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Additional information
K. Sasaki was with the Hiroshima-Denki Institute of Technology, 6-20-1, Nakano, Akiku, Hiroshima, 739-03, Japan; and is now with the Department of Biotechnology. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia; K. Watanabe, T. Tanaka and Y. Hotta are with the Cosmo Research Institute, 1134-2, Gongendo, Satte, Saitama, 340-01, Japan. S. Nagai is with the Department of Fermentation Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, 4-1, Kagamiyama 1 chome, Higashi-Hiroshima, 724. Japan.
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Sasaki, K., Watanabe, K., Tanaka, T. et al. 5-Aminolevulinic acid production by Chlorella sp. during heterotrophic cultivation in the dark. World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology 11, 361–362 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00367123
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00367123