Nuttawat WangrangsimagulKunticha KlinsakulAlisa S. VangnaiJirarut WongkongkatepPranee InprakhonKohsuke HondaHisao OhtakeJunichi KatoThunyarat PongtharangkulMahidol UniversityChulalongkorn UniversityOsaka UniversityHiroshima University2018-06-112018-06-112012-01-01Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. Vol.93, No.2 (2012), 555-56314320614017575982-s2.0-84856270503https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/13863Nowadays, majority of vanillin supplied to the world market is chemically synthesized from a petroleum-based raw material, raising a concern among the consumers regarding the product safety. In this study, an organic solvent-tolerant Brevibacillus agri 13 previously reported for a strong predilectic property was utilized as a whole-cell biocatalyst for bioproduction of vanillin from isoeugenol (IG). B. agri 13 is the first biocatalyst reported for bioproduction of vanillin at a temperature as high as 45°C. Both pH and temperature were found to affect vanillin production significantly. An extreme level of organic solvent tolerance of B. agri 13 allowed us to utilize it in a biphasic system using organic solvents generally considered as highly toxic to most bacteria. With an addition of butyl acetate at 30% (v/v) as an organic second phase, toxicity of IG exerted onto the biocatalyst was reduced dramatically while faster and more efficient vanillin production was obtained (1.7 g/L after 48 h with 27.8% molar conversion). © 2011 Springer-Verlag.Mahidol UniversityBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyImmunology and MicrobiologyArticleSCOPUS10.1007/s00253-011-3510-1