Production of folate by bacteria isolated from oat bran.

Twenty bacteria isolated from three commercial oat bran products were tested for their folate production capability. The bacteria as well as some reference organisms were grown until early stationary phase on a rich medium (YPD), and the amount of total folate in the separated cell mass and the culture medium (supernatant) was determined by microbiological assay. Folate vitamer distribution was determined for eight bacteria including one isolated from rye flakes. For seven bacteria the effect of temperature and pH on folate production was studied in more detail. Relatively large amount of folate was both produced in the cell biomass (up to 20.8microg/g) and released to the culture medium (up to 0.38microg/g) by studied bacteria. The best producers were characterized as Bacillus subtilis ON4, Chryseobacterium sp. NR7, Janthinobacterium sp. RB4, Pantoea agglomerans ON2, and Pseudomonas sp ON8. The level of folate released in culture medium was the highest for B. subtilis ON5, Chryseobacterium sp. NR7, Curtobacterium sp. ON7, Enterococcus durans ON9, Janthinobacterium sp. RB4, Paenibacillus sp. ON10, Propionibacterium sp. RB9, and Staphylococcus kloosii RB7. Marked differences in the distribution of folate vitamers among the bacterial strains were revealed by the HPLC analysis. The main vitamers were tetrahydrofolate, 5,10-methenyltetrahydrofolate, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, and 5-formyltetrahydrofolate. Increase in the folate content during bacterial growth was accompanied by proportional increase in the 5-methyltetrahydrofolate content and decrease of 5-formyltetrahydrofolate. 10-Formylfolic acid dominated in the culture media of four bacteria, and Janthinobacterium sp. RB4 was also found to excrete 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. Intracellular folate content was higher when the bacteria were grown at 28 degrees C than at 18 degrees C or 37 degrees C and also higher at pH 7 than at pH 5.5.