The Biosynthesis Mechanism Involving 2,3-Pentanedione and Aminoacetone Describes the Production of 2-Ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine and 2-Ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine by Bacillus subtilis.

2-Ethyl-3,5(3,6)-dimethylpyrazines (EDMPs) have a pleasant aroma of roasted cocoa or nuts with an extreme low odor threshold that have potential in industrial applications as food fragrances. The food fermentation process can accumulate EDMPs, and this might be the chance to study the biosynthesis mechanism of EDMPs under mild conditions for "natural" EDMPs' production. In this study, an EDMP-producing strain was isolated from baijiu fermentation. This strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis, a generally regarded as safe organism. After reasonable assumption and substrate addition and isotope-labeled experiments, we found that EDMPs are produced from l-threonine and d-glucose at environmental temperature and pressure. In addition, aminoacetone, the metabolite of l-threonine, and 2,3-pentanedione, the metabolite of l-threonine and d-glucose, are intermediates for the production of EDMPs. This study proposed and confirmed the biosynthesis pathway of EDMPs. It will be helpful for the industrial production of EDMPs and provides reference for the biosynthetic mechanism analysis of other valuable pyrazines.