Microbial fermentation of traditional Chinese medicine, a new type of processing method, plays an important role in traditional Chinese medicine research (Yan et al., 2018). During processing, Chinese medicine is used as a raw material, which is biotransformed by one or more probiotics (Elghali et al., 2012). The final product contains functional composites, which improves drug efficacy by being much more easily absorbed by the body. In addition, it can also improve mouthfeel and the utilization rate of traditional Chinese medicine waste (Trinh, Joh, Kwak, Baek, & Kim, 2010). Lee et al. (2012) found that after fermentation, the inhibition rate of red ginseng on tyrosinase and elastase activity increased, and the sensitization of red ginseng to the skin reduced. Khan et al. (2018) used dried longan as a raw material and lactic acid bacteria as a fermentation strain, and they found that fermentation reduced the content of free amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and leucine) with bitter taste but increased amino acids with antioxidant potential (taurine, aspartic acid, cysteine, thiazoline, and α-aminobutyric acid). Rose (the dry bud of Rosa rugosa Thunb) and jujube kernel (dry ripe seeds of Ziziphus jujuba) are Chinese herbal medicines used to treat insomnia due to their sedative and hypnotic effects (Yeung et al., 2012). They can be used as traditional Chinese medicine that contains functional (e.g., flavonoids and minerals) and volatile aromatic (e.g., phenylethyl alcohol) ingredients with antioxidant effects (Tang et al., 2018). Modern pharmacological studies have shown that saponins and total flavonoids are the main functional components from jujube kernel that have calming and hypnotic effects on animals (Jiang, Huang, Chen, & Lin, 2007). The polyphenolic compounds in rose have a wide range of biological activities, including antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiviral, and play an important role in human

butyric acid > isobutyric acid > butanol. The sample that exhibited the best similarity to the standard 2-PE sample (99.19%) was the sample to which ascorbic acid had been added during glucose metabolism. Conclusions 2-PE produced through the addition of ascorbic acid exhibited the closest aroma similarity to the standard 2-PE sample.]]>

No abstract

Eplerenone is a drug that protects the cardiovascular system. 11α-Hydroxycanrenone is a key intermediate in eplerenone synthesis. We found that although the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme system in Aspergillus ochraceus strain MF018 could catalyse the conversion of canrenone to 11α-hydroxycanrenone, its biocatalytic efficiency is low. To improve the efficiency of 11α-hydroxycanrenone production, the CYP monooxygenase-coding gene of MF018 was predicted and cloned based on whole-genome sequencing results. A recombinant A. ochraceus strain MF010 with the high expression of CYP monooxygenase was then obtained through homologous recombination. The biocatalytic rate of this recombinant strain reached 93 % at 60 h without the addition of organic solvents or surfactants and was 17–18 % higher than that of the MF018 strain. Moreover, the biocatalytic time of the MF010 strain was reduced by more than 30 h compared with that of the MF018 strain. These results show that the recombinant A. ochraceus strain MF010 can overcome the limitation of substrate biocatalytic efficiency and thus holds a high poten tial for application in the industrial production of eplerenone.

The demand for natural lactone gamma-decalactone (GDL) has increased in the fields of food and cosmetic products. However, low productivity during bioprocessing limits its industrial production. In this study, a novel composite porous cell carrier, bacterial cellulose-alginate (BC-ALG), was used for long-term biotransformation and production of GDL. The effects of this carrier on biotransformation and related mechanisms were investigated. BC-ALG carriers showed improved mechanical strength over ALG carriers, with their internal embedded cell pattern changed to an interconnected porous structure. In five repeated-batch biotransformation experiments, the maximum concentration of GDL obtained in culture with BC-ALG carriers was 8.37 g/L, approximately 3.7 times higher than that from the medium with an ALG carrier alone. The result indicated that multiple hydrogen bonding interactions at the interface between BC and ALG contributed to the compatibility and stability of BC-ALG carriers. On the basis of the above results, the BC-ALG composite carrier can be considered ideal for immobilisation of cells for the production of GDL on an industrial scale, and has the potential to be utilised in other biological processes.