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Biotechnological production of d-glyceric acid and its application

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Abstract

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 value-added 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.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan for financial support (the Industrial Technology Research Grant Program: 08A26202c).

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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. Biotechnological production of d-glyceric acid and its application. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 84, 445–452 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2124-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2124-3

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