A novel short chain dehydrogenase from Bacillus megaterium for the conversion of the sesquiterpene nootkatol to (+)-nootkatone

Abstract (+)-Nootkatone is a natural ingredient that occurs in grapefruit and certain other plants and is responsible for the characteristic smell of grapefruit. Due to its versatile applications in the flavor and fragrance industry as well as its application in some medical uses it recruits the interests of academic research along with industrial biotechnology. In the current work we present the application of a novel short chain dehydrogenase from Bacillus megaterium in an in vivo whole-cell biocatalyst system for the conversion of the intermediate nootkatol into the industrially valuable (+)-nootkatone. The newly identified dehydrogenase converted nootkatol selectively and efficiently into the final product. The conversion ratio of about 100% was achieved within 40 min yielding about 44 mg/L (+)-nootkatone. Furthermore, the herein identified dehydrogenase provides a new tool to overcome the limitation of the two-step enzymatic biotechnological process for the production of (+)-nootkatone.