“香料皇后”——天然香兰素生物合成的研究进展

Biosynthesis of natural vanillin—the queen of food ingredients

摘要:

香兰素是世界上最重要的香料之一, 广泛应用在食品饮料、香精香料和医药工业等领域中, 全球每年的需求量超过16 000 t。鉴于人们对纯天然绿色食品的追求日益增长, 天然香兰素高效的生产方法也成为研究的热点。通过对各种香兰素生产方法的比较, 明确提出微生物合成方法的主导地位, 综述了香兰素的生物合成途径以及合成关键基因和酶等方面的研究进展, 分析探讨了不同生物合成途径的优劣之处, 并展望了利用微生物高产天然香兰素存在的瓶颈以及有潜力的发展方向。

Abstract:

Vanillin is one of the most important flavoring compounds, and it is widely used in the food industry, spice fragrance, and medicine industry, etc. The annual worldwide consumption is estimated over 16 000 tons. Due to people’s increasing concern for natural food, the production of natural vanillin has become the major point of scientific research. By comparing different production methods of vanillin, we concluded that the microbial transformation to vanillin is the most promising method. Research developments on different biosynthetic pathways for vanillin, as well as the genes and enzymes involved, were discussed. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of each pathway were compared and explained. Finally, the existing bottlenecks in biosynthesis of high-yield natural vanillin with the help of genetic and metabolic engineering, and the potential development direction in this field were elucidated.