title: Novel Halomonas sp. B15 isolated from Larnaca Salt Lake in Cyprus that generates vanillin and vanillic acid from ferulic acid.
abstract: Vanillin is a high value added product with many applications in the food, fragrance and pharmaceutical industries. A natural and low-cost method to produce vanillin is by microbial bioconversions through ferulic acid. Until now, limited microorganisms have been found capable of bioconverting ferulic acid to vanillin at high yield. This study aimed to screen halotolerant strains of bacteria from Larnaca Salt Lake which generate vanillin and vanillic acid from ferulic acid. From a total of 50 halotolenant/halophilic strains 8 grew in 1 g/L ferulic acid and only 1 Halomonas sp. B15 and 3 Halomonas elognata strains were capable of bioconverting ferulic acid to vanillic acid at 100 g NaCl/L. The highest vanillic acid (365 mg/L) at these conditions generated by Halomonas sp. B15 which corresponds to ferulic acid bioconversion yield of 36.5%. Using the resting cell technique with an initial ferulic acid concentration of 0.5 g/L at low salinity, the highest production of vanillin (245 mg/L) took place after 48 h, corresponding to a bioconversion yield of 49%. This is the first reported Halomonas sp. with high yield of vanillin production from ferulic acid at low salinity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Cyprus University of Technology, 30 Archbishop Kyprianos, 3036, Lemesos, Cyprus, Ioannis.vyrides@cut.ac.cy.
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vyrides
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agathangelou
authors.forename: Rodothea
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dimitriou
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Souroullas
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salamex
authors.forename: Aristostodimos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ioannou
authors.forename: Michalis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koutinas
mesh_terms: D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000378:metabolism*; D003373:Coumaric Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D003535:Cyprus; D020632:Halomonas / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D060106:Lakes / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D014641:Vanillic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001547:Benzaldehydes; D003373:Coumaric Acids; D012965:Sodium Chloride; C004999:ferulic acid; C100058:vanillin; D014641:Vanillic Acid