Fermentation process for producing monosaccharides in free form from nucleotide-activated sugars

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for producing a monosaccharide, e.g. L-fucose, in free form using a microbial fermentation process. The used microorganism exhibits hydrolase activity on nucleotide-activated sugars and releases the monosaccharide in an unmodified free form. The free monosaccharide is retrieved from the supernatant of the cultivated microorganism.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15 / 546,778, filed Jul. 27, 2017, which is a National Stage entry of International Application No. PCT / EP2016 / 051919, filed Jan. 29, 2016, which claims to European Patent Application No. 15153383.3, filed Jan. 30, 2015.REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING SUBMITTED AS A COMPLIANT ASCII TEXT FILE (.txt)[0002]Pursuant to the EFS-Web legal framework and 37 CFR §§ 1.821-825 (see MPEP § 2442.03(a)), a Sequence Listing in the form of an ASCII-compliant text file (entitled “Sequence_Listing_3000045-001001_ST25.txt” created on 18 Jul. 2019, and 19,783 bytes in size) is submitted concurrently with the instant application, and the entire contents of the Sequence Listing are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUNDField[0003]The present invention relates to a microbial fermentation process for producing a monosaccharide of interest in free form from nucleotide-activated sugars.Description of...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a new process to efficiently produce a single desired monosaccharide in large amounts without negative environmental effects. This allows for the retrieval of the monosaccharide quickly and cost-effectively.

Problems solved by technology

Due to the high chemical similarity of the monosaccharides (mostly differing from each other only by the orientation of individual hydroxyl-groups) the separation of individual monosaccharides in pure form is rather laborious and costly.

Therefore, the isolation of individual monosaccharides from a complex hydrolysate of oligosaccharides is challenging (due to the high chemical similarity of the individual monosaccharides released) and environmentally harmful (due to the excessive use of toxic chemicals, such a lead carbonate).

Also the availability of oligosaccharides rich in a certain sugar can be rather restricted in nature and also highly variable due to seasonal changes.

The large-scale harvest of brown seaweed from sea shores causes environmental concerns and is limited by environmental protection laws.

Generally the yields of these chemical syntheses are often rather poor and involve several chemical steps.

In general, the large-scale chemical synthesis of monosaccharides have not proved economical viable in comparison to extraction of L-fucose from polysaccharides collected from nature.

Thus, currently, the preparation of any monosaccharide in pure form requires a significant effort in the purification of other monosaccharides away from the target monosaccharide, often involving large volumes of organic solvents and other noxious chemicals.

However most microorganisms are restricted in the kinds of monosaccharides they are able to utilize.

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