Biotechnological Strategies of Riboflavin Biosynthesis in Microbes
Jia-Rong Zhang,
Ying-Ying Ge,
Pin-He Liu,
Ding-Tao Wu,
Hong-Yan Liu,
Hua-Bin Li,
Harold Corke,
Ren-You Gan
Affiliations
Jia-Rong Zhang
Research Center for Plants and Human Health, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China; Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Ying-Ying Ge
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Pin-He Liu
Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Ding-Tao Wu
Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), Sichuan Engineering and Technology Research Center of Coarse Cereal Industralization, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
Hong-Yan Liu
Research Center for Plants and Human Health, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
Hua-Bin Li
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China
Harold Corke
Biotechnology and Food Engineering Program, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou 515063, China; Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
Ren-You Gan
Research Center for Plants and Human Health, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China; Corresponding author.
Riboflavin is an essential micronutrient for humans and must be obtained exogenously from foods or supplements. Numerous studies have suggested a major role of riboflavin in the prevention and treatment of various diseases. There are mainly three strategies for riboflavin synthesis, including total chemical synthesis, chemical semi-synthesis, and microbial fermentation, the latter being currently the most promising strategy. In recent years, flavinogenic microbes have attracted increasing attention. Fungi, including Eremothecium ashbyii and Ashbya gossypii, and bacteria, including Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, and lactic acid bacteria, are ideal cell factories for riboflavin overproduction. Thus they are good candidates for enhancing the level of riboflavin in fermented foods or designing novel riboflavin bio-enriched foods with improved nutritional value and/or beneficial properties for human health. This review briefly describes the role of riboflavin in human health and the historical process of its industrial production, and then highlights riboflavin biosynthesis in bacteria and fungi, and finally summarizes the strategies for riboflavin overproduction based on both the optimization of fermentation conditions and the development of riboflavin-overproducing strains via chemical mutagenesis and metabolic engineering. Overall, this review provides an updated understanding of riboflavin biosynthesis and can promote the research and development of fermented food products rich in riboflavin.
