Production of D-lactic acid from DL-lactonitrile by Pseudomonas sp.

By using DL-acetonitrile as enzyme inducer, 90 bacteria were isolated from a field soil. Among the isolated strains, the strain WJ-003 showed the highest activity for production of D-lactic acid from DL-lactonitrile, and was partially identified as Pseudomonas sp. The production condition of D-lactic acid from DL-lactonitrile using resting cells as an enzyme source was optimized as follows: the reaction mixture contained 10 mM of DL-lactonitrile, 20 g of wet cells in 1 1 of 20 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) and the reaction was carried out at 30°C. After 18 h of reaction, 0.843 g/1 of D-lactic acid was produced which corresponded to a conversion ratio of 93.7% and an optical purity of 99.8%. Additionally, when 10 mM of DL-lactonitrile was added once more to the reaction mixture at 14 h, 1.64 g/1 of D-lactic acid was produced after 28 h. In this experiment, the conversion ratio was 91.1% and optical purity 99.8%.