Production of Lacto--biose I Using Crude Extracts of Bifidobacterial Cells.

Lacto--biose I (LNB) is supposed to represent the bifidus factor in human milk oligosaccharides, and can be practically produced from sucrose and GlcNAc using four bifidobacterial enzymes, 1,3-β-galactosyl--acetylhexosamine phosphorylase, sucrose phosphorylase, UDP-glucose-hexose 1-phosphate uridylyltransferase, and UDP-glucose 4-epimerase, recombinantly produced by . Here the production of LNB by the same enzymatic method without using genetically modified enzymes to consider the use of LNB for a food ingredient was reported. All four enzymes were produced as the intracellular enzymes of strains.

Characterization of cyanobacterial cells synthesizing 10-methyl stearic acid.

Recently, microalgae have attracted attention as sources of biomass energy. However, fatty acids from the microalgae are mainly unsaturated and show low stability in oxygenated environments, due to oxidation of the double bonds. The branched-chain fatty acid, 10-methyl stearic acid, is synthesized from oleic acid in certain bacteria; the fatty acid is saturated, but melting point is low.

Expression of Genes for a Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide-Binding Oxidoreductase and a Methyltransferase from Is Necessary for Biosynthesis of 10-Methyl Stearic Acid from Oleic Acid in .

In living organisms, modified fatty acids are crucial for the functions of the cellular membranes and storage lipids where the fatty acids are esterified. Some bacteria produce a typical methyl-branched fatty acid, i.e.

Construction of a cyanobacterium synthesizing cyclopropane fatty acids.

Microalgae have received much attention as a next-generation source of biomass energy. However, most of the fatty acids (FAs) from microalgae are multiply unsaturated; thus, the biofuels derived from them are fluid, but vulnerable to oxidation. In this study, we attempted to synthesize cyclopropane FAs in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp.