Fermentative Production of Lactobionic Acid by Burkholderia cepacia

Abstract

Lactobionic acid (LA) is derived from lactose (Lac) and has been reported to have several useful functions. LA has been supplied only as a reagent for study because it has been produced chemically in a small scale in Japan. We aimed to develop microbial production systems of LA and examined LA fermentation conditions. A three-day batch culture produced 200 g/L of LA. A ten-day fed-batch culture with periodic additions of Lac and CaCO₃ accumulated 400 g/L of LA. There was no by-product and no loss of Lac, and the yield of LA-conversion was 100%. The addition of ethanol (75 % (v/v), final concentration) to culture supernatant resulted in recovery of 98 % of LA as precipitate.