Encapsulation of Mannose-6-phosphate Isomerase in Yeast Spores and Its Application in l-Ribose Production.

A mannose-6-phosphate isomerase (MPI) from was expressed and successfully encapsulated into the spores. Our results demonstrated that compared to the free enzyme, the MPI triple mutant encapsulated in Δ spores exhibited much preferred enzymatic properties, such as enhanced catalytic activity, excellent reusability, thermostability, and tolerance to various harsh conditions. In combination with an l-arabinose isomerase (AI) also from , this technique of spore encapsulation was applied for producing a high-value rare sugar l-ribose from biomass-derived l-arabinose. Using a 10 mL reaction system, 350 mg of l-ribose was produced from 1 g of l-arabinose with a conversion yield of 35% by repeatedly reacting with 200 mg of AI-encapsulated spores and 300 mg of MPI-encapsulated spores. This study provides a very useful and concise approach for the synthesis of rare sugars and other useful compounds.