title: Biotechnological production of D-glyceric acid and its application.
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.
authors.affiliation: 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@aist.go.jp
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Habe
authors.forename: Tokuma
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuoka
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kitamoto
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakaki
mesh_terms: D016947:Acetobacteraceae / Q000378:metabolism; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media; D020576:Gluconobacter / Q000378:metabolism; D005988:Glyceric Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005990:Glycerol / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D005988:Glyceric Acids; C042971:glyceric acid; D005990:Glycerol