1993 Volume 40 Issue 12 Pages 841-848
Bacillus natto was cultured in the liquid media containing various carbon sources, and effects of carbon sources on the formation of pyrazines were examined. Reexamination of culture conditions revealed that shaking was better than standing on cell growth and pyrazine production. Fourteen pyrazines were identified by GC and GC-MS. The highest yield of pyrazines was obtained on addition of glucose, and the total pyrazines was more than 42mg/l of culture broth. Seventeen carbon sources were divided into five groups (A, B, C, D, E) by the pyrazine formation pattern. In the case of group A (D and L-arabinose, xylose, galactose and sorbose), 2-methylpyrazine was the main product. In group B (glucose, fructose, mannose, sucrose and mannitol), trimethyl and tetramethyl derivatives were the main products. The main product of the group C (trehalose and sorbitol) was 3-ethyl-2, 5-dimethylpyrazine, and that of group D (raffinose and stachyose) was 2, 5-dimethylpyrazine. Group E (L-rhamnose, maltose and lactose) was the group which could not belong to any other groups. Yields of pyrazines in the culture broths were parallel to cell growth in each group, except group E.
