Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Vol.101, No.2, 172-177, 2006
D-lactic acid production by metabolically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Poly D-lactic acid is an important polymer because it improves the thermostability of poly L-lactic acid by the stereo complex formation. We constructed a metabolically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae that produces D-lactic acid efficiently. In this recombinant, the coding region of pyruvate decarboxylase I (PDC1) was completely deleted, and two copies of the D-lactate dehydrogenase (D-LDH) gene from Leticonostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides strain NBRC3426 were introduced into the genome. The D-lactate production reached 61.5 g/l, the amount of glucose being transformed into D-lactic acid being 61.2% under neutralizing conditions. Additionally, the yield of free D-lactic acid was also shown to be 53.0% under non-neutralizing conditions. It was confirmed that D-lactic acid of extremely high optical purity of 99.90% or higher. Our finding obtained the possibility of a new approach for pure D-lactic acid production without a neutralizing process compared with other techniques involving lactic acid bacteria and transgenic Escherichia coli.
Keywords:D-lactic acid production;D-lactate dehydrogenase;Leuconostoc mesenteroides;Saccharomyces cerevisiae;non-neutralization