Biotransformation of Phenolic Acids by Fusarium udum E. Butler

Background: The biotechnological generation of natural flavor compounds is rapidly expanding. Production of desired flavor compounds by biotransformation is natural, more effective, and an economical process. High economic value of bio-vanillin has led to a wide interest in research on the production of vanillin through biotechnological routes. Objective: The aim of the present study was to use F. udum E. Butler as a bio-catalyst for the production of bio-vanillin, from easily available and economically viable phenolic substrates. Methods: Mycelium of fungal strain, was incubated in minimal medium with phenolic substrates. The medium was analyzed by GC/MS at specific time intervals in order to identify products formed during biotransformation on different time scales. Results: Production of bio-vanillin was observed after 24 h as the major product when F. udum E. Butler was grown on vanillic acid. Guaiacol was found to be the end product of this reaction as the further conversion of guaiacol was not observed. The metabolic pathway for vanillic acid biotransformation was also elucidated by identifying intermediate metabolites of the reaction and fate of these intermediates when these intermediates were used as a sole carbon source was also elucidated. Conclusion: Microbial production of bio-vanillin is one of the highly economically attractive biotransformation processes as substrates of this process are byproducts of agroindustrial sources. However, toxicity of vanillin accumulation is one of the major bottleneck in bio-vanillin production, and it demands serious scientific inputs.