Increased Production of Food-Grade <scp>d</scp>-Tagatose from <scp>d</scp>-Galactose by Permeabilized and Immobilized Cells of Corynebacterium glutamicum, a GRAS Host, Expressing <scp>d</scp>-Galactose Isomerase from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans

The generally recognized as safe microorganism Corynebacterium glutamicum expressing Geobacillus thermodenitrificans d-galactose isomerase (d-GaI) was an efficient host for the production of d-tagatose, a functional sweetener. The d-tagatose production at 500 g/L d-galactose by the host was 1.4-fold higher than that by Escherichia coli expressing d-GaI. The d-tagatose-producing activity of permeabilized C. glutamicum (PCG) cells treated with 1% (w/v) Triton X-100 was 2.1-fold higher than that of untreated cells. Permeabilized and immobilized C. glutamicum (PICG) cells in 3% (w/v) alginate showed a 3.1-fold longer half-life at 50 &#176;C and 3.1-fold higher total d-tagatose concentration in repeated batch reactions than PCG cells. PICG cells, which produced 165 g/L d-tagatose after 3 h, with a conversion of 55% (w/w) and a productivity of 55 g/L/h, showed significantly higher d-tagatose productivity than that reported for other cells. Thus, d-tagatose production by PICG cells may be an economical process to produce food-grade d-tagatose.