Efficient production of reuterin from glycerol by magnetically immobilized Lactobacillus reuteri.

Reuterin is a compound that contains the monomeric, hydrated monomeric, and cyclic dimeric forms of 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA). It is widely used as a food preservative due to its antimicrobial properties, and 3-HPA is also an important precursor for several industrial chemicals. In this study, we first developed an efficient immobilization process involving magnetic cell entrapment for production of reuterin from glycerol by Lactobacillus reuteri. The cell growth condition was optimized by statistical approaches. High conversion efficiency was achieved using k-carrageenan as the immobilization support and Fe3O4 as magnetic nanoparticles. Furthermore, addition of 0.02 g/L vitamin B12, 10 mmol/L Mg(2+), and glucose in a molar ratio of 0.15 to glycerol significantly increased the conversion rate. Under optimal conditions, 235.9 mmol/L 3-HPA was produced from 250 mmol/L initial glycerol in 1.5 h, with a molar yield of 94.4 % and a productivity of 15.4 mmol/(g dry cell weight∙L∙h), which were the highest values to date. Thus, this study demonstrated a promising process for the improvement of biocatalyst efficiency in biotransformation.