Research papers of the week – October 11, 2021

Ewa Szczepańska, Danilo Colombo, Francesca Tentori, Teresa Olejniczak, Elisabetta Brenna, Daniela Monti, Filip Boratyński

Scientific Reports

Ministerial score = 140.0
JIF Impact Factor (2020) = 4.379 (Q1)

The demand for natural food flavorings increases every year. Biotransformation has become an attractive approach to obtain natural products. In this work, enantiomerically pure (R)-(+)-δ-decalactone was obtained by reduction of the C=C double bond of natural massoia lactone in a continuous-flow reactor. Of 13 different ene-reductases isolated, purified and tested, OYE3 was found to be the most efficient biocatalyst. The selected biocatalyst, either in the form of purified enzyme, cell lysate, whole cells or immobilized cells, was tested in the batch system as well as in the packed-bed flow bioreactor. The biotransformation performed in batch mode, using Ca2+-alginate immobilized cells of Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)/pET30a-OYE3, furnished the desired product with complete conversion in 30 min. The process was intensified using a continuous-flow reactor-membrane filtration system (flow 0.1 mL/min, substrate concentration 10 mM, pH 7, 24 °C) with cell lysate as biocatalyst combined with a cofactor regeneration system, which allowed obtaining > 99% bioconversion of massoia lactone.

DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-97585-w

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