Efficient bioconversion of l-threonine to 2-oxobutyrate using whole cells of Pseudomonas stutzeri SDM.

2-Oxobutyrate (2-OBA) is an important intermediate with many applications in the drug and chemical industries. l-Threonine, an industrial fermentation product, could be used as a suitable starting material for the 2-OBA production. In this study, whole cells of Pseudomonas stutzeri SDM were confirmed to possess a good ability to convert l-threonine into 2-OBA. The bioconversion conditions were optimized for the 2-OBA production from l-threonine. Using 9.2g dry cell weight l(-1) of whole cells of strain SDM as biocatalyst, the biocatalytic process produced 2-OBA at a high concentration (25.6gl(-1)) with a high molar conversion rate (99.6%) at 6h from 30g1(-1) of l-threonine.