An energy-saving glutathione production method from low-temperature cooked rice using amylase-expressing Saccharomyces cerevisiae

• Published in: Biotechnology journal Vol. 7; no. 5; pp. 686 - 689
• Main Authors: Hara, Kiyotaka Y., Kim, Songhee, Kiriyama, Kentaro, Yoshida, Hideyo, Arai, Shogo, Ishii, Jun, Ogino, Chiaki, Fukuda, Hideki, Kondo, Akihiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY-VCH Verlag 01-05-2012; WILEY‐VCH Verlag
• Subjects: Amylase-expressing yeast; Biomass; Bioreactors - microbiology; Cooking; Glucan 1,4-alpha-Glucosidase - metabolism; Glucose - metabolism; Glutathione; Glutathione - metabolism; Low-temperature cooking; Oryza - chemistry; Oryza - metabolism; Particle Size; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - enzymology; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins - metabolism; Starch - metabolism; Temperature
• ISSN: 1860-6768; 1860-7314
• DOI: 10.1002/biot.201100432

Glutathione is a valuable tripeptide that is widely used in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. Glutathione is industrially produced by fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Before the glutathione fermentation process with S. cerevisiae, a glucose extraction process from starchy materials is required. This glucose extraction is usually carried out by converting starchy materials to starch using high‐temperature cooking and subsequent hydrolysis by amylases to convert starch to glucose. In this study, to develop an energy‐saving glutathione production process by reducing energy consumption during the cooking step, we efficiently produced glutathione from low‐temperature cooked rice using amylase‐expressing S. cerevisiae. The combination of the amylase‐expressing yeast with low‐temperature cooking is potentially applicable to a variety of energy‐saving bio‐production methods of chemicals from starchy bio‐resources.
Glutathione is a valuable tripeptide that is widely used in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. The high costs associated with the extensive energy consumption and enzyme addition make the glutathione production process from starch difficult to apply to industrial production. In this study, the authors develop an energy‐saving glutathione production process from low‐temperature cooked rice using amylase‐expressing Saccharomyces cerevisiae.