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Biotransformation of glycerol to d-glyceric acid by Acetobacter tropicalis

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Abstract

Bacterial strains capable of converting glycerol to glyceric acid (GA) were screened among the genera Acetobacter and Gluconacetobacter. Most of the tested Acetobacter and Gluconacetobacter strains could produce 1.8 to 9.3 g/l GA from 10% (v/v) glycerol when intact cells were used as the enzyme source. Acetobacter tropicalis NBRC16470 was the best GA producer and was therefore further investigated. Based on the results of high-performance liquid chromatography analysis and specific rotation, the enantiomeric composition of the produced GA was d-glyceric acid (d-GA). The productivity of d-GA was enhanced with the addition of both 15% (v/v) glycerol and 20 g/l yeast extract. Under these optimized conditions, A. tropicalis NBRC16470 produced 22.7 g/l d-GA from 200 g/l glycerol during 4 days of incubation in a jar fermentor.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by the Industrial Technology Research Grant Program in 08A26202c from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Innovations in Sustainable Chemistry, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba Central 5-2, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8565, Japan

    Hiroshi Habe, Tokuma Fukuoka, Dai Kitamoto & Keiji Sakaki

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  1. Hiroshi Habe
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  2. Tokuma Fukuoka
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  3. Dai Kitamoto
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  4. Keiji Sakaki
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Habe.

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Habe, H., Fukuoka, T., Kitamoto, D. et al. Biotransformation of glycerol to d-glyceric acid by Acetobacter tropicalis . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 81, 1033–1039 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1737-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1737-2

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