• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.68-74
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• 1997

The conversion of D-sorbitol to L-sorbose by Gluconobater suboxydans was analyzed, and continuous production of L-sorbose was carried out in immobilized cell reactors. L-Sorbose production by high densities of resting cells was more effective than by conventional batch fermentations. Sorbitol dehydrogenase, an enzyme converting D-sorbitol to L-sorbose, did not suffer from substrate inhibition, but from product inhibition. When L-sorbose production was carried out with Ca-alginate-immobilized cells, about 60 g/l of L-sorbose was obtained. On the other hand, when the corn steep liquor (CSL) concentration of medium was reduced to 0.08%, 80 g/l of L-sorbose was obtained. Outgrowth inside the immobilized carriers was thought to block the pores of the carriers so that substrate could not easily diffuse through the carriers. Continuous production of L-sorbose was well accomplished in a bubble column reactor, and 6. 5 g/l.h of productivity and 81.2% of yield were obtained at a substrate feeding rate of 0.08h$^{-1}$ under the optimum conditions with carrier volume of 55% and aeration rate of 3 vvm.