Background: Shikimic acid, the sole chemical building block for the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu®), is one of the potent pharmaceutical intermediates with three chiral centers. Here we report a metabolically engineered recombinant Bacillus megaterium strain with aroE (shikimate dehydrogenase) overexpression for the production of shikimic acid.
Results: In a 7 L bioreactor, 4.2 g/L shikimic acid was obtained using the recombinant strain over 0.53 g/L with the wild type. The enhancement of total shikimate dehydrogenase activity was 2.13-fold higher than the wild type. Maximum yield of shikimic acid (12.54 g/L) was obtained with fructose as carbon source. It was isolated from the fermentation broth using amberlite IRA-400 resin and 89% purity of the product was achieved.
Conclusion: This will add up a new organism in the armory for the fermentation based production which is better over plant based extraction and chemical synthesis of shikimic acid.