Mannitol production by Lactobacillus coryniformis subsp. coryniformis CRL 1001 and Lactobacillus fermentum CRL 573

FERNANDA MOZZI; MARÍA JOSÉ FORNAGUERA; GINO VRANCKEN; TOM RIMAUX; CECILIA RODRÍGUEZ; GRACIELA FONT DE VALDEZ

Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands

Simposio; 9th Symposium Lactic Acid Bacteria. Health, Evolution and Systems Biology; 2008

Federation of European Microbiological Societies. The Netherlands Society for Microbiology

Mannitol is a sugar alcohol widely spread in nature that has several applications in the food, pharmaceutical and medical industries. It has been claimed to have health-promoting effects as antioxidant and as non-metabolizable low-calorie sweetener, being applicable for diabetic food products. In the last years, mannitol production by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) has been approached as an alternative to its chemical industrial production. Thus, mannitol could be used as food additive or be produced in situ by LAB. In this work, mannitol production by Lactobacillus coryniformis subsp. coryniformis CRL1001 and Lactobacillus fermentum CRL573, previously selected for their ability to synthesize mannitol, was evaluated under varied culture conditions. The effect of different carbon sources (fructose, fructose/glucose, sucrose, and sugar cane molasses), sugar concentrations (1.0-10.0 %, w/v), incubation temperatures (30 and 37°C), agitation, and fermentation periods (up to 48 h) on mannitol synthesis was studied. Both LAB strains produced mannitol from all carbon sources tested, except when using fructose solely. Maximum mannitol production levels were obtained using sugar cane molasses (7.5 %) at 37°C after 48 h. When agitation was applied, an increase in mannitol production and yield was observed only for the strain CRL1001. To conclude, the studied strains are excellent candidates for the microbial production of mannitol to be used in situ or as additive in mannitol-enriched foods.