Abstract
For the production of benzoylformic acid from DL-phenylglycine, 8 strains of bacteria capable of producing benzoylformic acid were isolated from soil. Among them, the strain YH-001 showed the highest activity for production of benzoylformic acid, and was partially identified as a Bacillus sp. For the production of benzoylformic acid, a reaction mixture and reaction conditions were optimized as follows: the reaction mixture contained 2 g of DL-phenylglycine and 50 g of wet cells in 1 l of 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) and the reaction was carried out at 40$circ$C with shaking. After 6 hr incubation, 1.01 g/l of benzoylformic acid was produced which coffesponded to a conversion yield of 50.5%.