Major Role of NAD-Dependent Lactate Dehydrogenases in the Production of l-Lactic Acid with High Optical Purity by the Thermophile Bacillus coagulans

Abstract

ABSTRACTBacillus coagulans2-6 is an excellent producer of optically purel-lactic acid. However, little is known about the mechanism of synthesis of the highly optically purel-lactic acid produced by this strain. Three enzymes responsible for lactic acid production—NAD-dependentl-lactate dehydrogenase (l-nLDH; encoded byldhL), NAD-dependentd-lactate dehydrogenase (d-nLDH; encoded byldhD), and glycolate oxidase (GOX)—were systematically investigated in order to study the relationship between these enzymes and the optical purity of lactic acid.Lactobacillus delbrueckiisubsp.bulgaricusDSM 20081 (ad-lactic acid producer) andLactobacillus plantarumsubsp.plantarumDSM 20174 (adl-lactic acid producer) were also examined in this study as comparative strains, in addition toB. coagulans. The specific activities of key enzymes for lactic acid production in the three strains were characterizedin vivoandin vitro, and the levels of transcription of theldhL,ldhD, and GOX genes during fermentation were also analyzed. The catalytic activities ofl-nLDH andd-nLDH were different inl-,d-, anddl-lactic acid producers. Onlyl-nLDH activity was detected inB. coagulans2-6 under native conditions, and the level of transcription ofldhLinB. coagulans2-6 was much higher than that ofldhDor the GOX gene at all growth phases. However, for the twoLactobacillusstrains used in this study,ldhDtranscription levels were higher than those ofldhL. The high catalytic efficiency ofl-nLDH toward pyruvate and the high transcription ratios ofldhLtoldhDandldhLto the GOX gene provide the key explanations for the high optical purity ofl-lactic acid produced byB. coagulans2-6.