[Efficient whole-cell biosynthesis of D-mannose by recombinant Bacillus subtilis]

D-mannose is a natural hexose with great economic and application values in the food, medicine, and cosmetic fields. However, most biosynthesis methods of D-mannose rely on Escherichia coli as the host, which poses safety issues during the production process and imposes limitations on subsequent applications. This study compared the enzyme properties of mannose isomerases from multiple sources to select the most suitable source. B. subtilis 168/pMA5-EcMIaseA was constructed with "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) Bacillus subtilis as the host and used as a whole-cell catalyst to synthesize D-mannose from d-fructose. Optimizing the conversion conditions such as culture temperature, pH, and substrate concentration increased the yield of D-mannose. The results showed that the conversion rates reached 27.75% and 27.22% and the yields of D-mannose were 138.74 g/L and 163.30 g/L after 6 h whole-cell transformation with d-fructose at the concentrations of 500 g/L and 600 g/L, respectively, in a 5 L fermentor. This study achieves the highest yield of D-mannose produced under the catalysis by recombinant B. subtilis that has ever been reported and provides a basis for the industrial production and application of D-mannose.