Enzyme boost for BASF
14 Mar 2001
Bacteria which live on vegetable oils are the key to a new process to make vitamin B2 at BASF.
The process, resulting from a collaboration with the University of Salamanca, is 20 per cent more efficient than the German giant's current manufacturing method.
Salamanca biochemistry professor José-Luis Revuelta has been collaborating with BASF's microbial synthesis research specialist Burkhard Kröger on vitamin B2 synthesis for the past five years.
Recently, Revuelta has been studying a fungus called Ashbya gossypii, which lives on vegetable oils. As part of its life-cycle, the fungus makes vitamin B2, and Revuelta has discovered which enzymes are responsible for this synthesis.
This discovery helped BASF's scientists to boost the levels of these enzymes in the fungus, thereby increasing the amount of the vitamin it produces. 'We have already filed more than ten patent applications,' comments Kröger.
