Biotechnological production ofd-glyceric acid and its application

✍ Scribed by Hiroshi Habe; Tokuma Fukuoka; Dai Kitamoto; Keiji Sakaki

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 181 KB
• Volume: 84
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-009-2124-3

✦ Synopsis

Glycerol is currently produced in large amounts as a by-product during fat splitting and biodiesel fuel production. Over the past decade, both chemical and biotechnological processes to convert glycerol to valueadded chemicals have been increasingly explored. This mini-review provides recent information about the biotechnological production of a glycerol derivative, D-glyceric acid (D-GA), and its possible applications. Little is known about GA as a bioproduct, but it is naturally found in different kinds of plants as a phytochemical constituent and is reported to have some biological activity. A racemic mixture of DL-GA can be obtained from glycerol via chemical oxidation; however, D-GA is mainly biotechnologically produced with the aid of bacteria. Under aerobic conditions, some acetic acid bacteria transform glycerol into D-GA, and optimization of initial glycerol concentration and aeration rate provided a yield of more than 80 g/ l D-GA, using a strain of Gluconobacter frateurii.