Microorganisms (Mar 2022)

Production of Vitamin K by Wild-Type and Engineered Microorganisms

  • Min-Ji Kang,
  • Kwang-Rim Baek,
  • Ye-Rim Lee,
  • Geun-Hyung Kim,
  • Seung-Oh Seo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10030554
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 3
p. 554

Abstract

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Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin that mainly exists as phylloquinone or menaquinone in nature. Vitamin K plays an important role in blood clotting and bone health in humans. For use as a nutraceutical, vitamin K is produced by natural extraction, chemical synthesis, and microbial fermentation. Natural extraction and chemical synthesis methods for vitamin K production have limitations, such as low yield of products and environmental concerns. Microbial fermentation is a more sustainable process for industrial production of natural vitamin K than two other methods. Recent advanced genetic technology facilitates industrial production of vitamin K by increasing the yield and productivity of microbial host strains. This review covers (i) general information about vitamin K and microbial host, (ii) current titers of vitamin K produced by wild-type microorganisms, and (iii) vitamin K production by engineered microorganisms, including the details of strain engineering strategies. Finally, current limitations and future directions for microbial production of vitamin K are also discussed.

Keywords