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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #94782
Title: BIOCONVERSION OF OLEIC ACID BY SPHINGOBACTERIUM THALPOPHILUM 022

Author
item Kuo, Tsung Min
item Lanser, Alan
item Hou, Ching

Submitted to: American Oil Chemists' Society Oil Technologists Association of India Intern
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/21/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Useful industrial chemicals may be produced from surplus vegetable oils and fatty acids by enzymes or whole microbial cells for greater specificity and lesser environmental concerns than by chemical reactions. The bioconversion of oleic acid by a strain of Sphingobacterium thalpophilum, O22, was investigated. The microorganism was isolated as a stable culture from compost that was enriched with soybean oil outdoors and subsequently with oleic acid in the laboratory. Strain O22 converted oleic acid to products identified as 10- ketostearic acid (95% of the total conversion product) and 10- hydroxystearic acid (5%). This is in contrast to Sphingobacterium thalpophilum strain B-14797, which produces solely 10-hydroxystearic acid. The yield of producing 10- ketostearic acid was about 75% at 28C and 200 rpm for 48 h. The optimum pH for the bioconversion was greater than 7.0. Maximum cell growth reached at about 24 h, and the maximal conversion reached in about 36 h after the addition of oleic acid to the fermentation broth. This is the first report on this type of bioconversion reaction by a microorganism in the genus Sphingobacterium.