ABSTRACT
Arbutin is a hydroquinone glucoside and a natural product present in various plants. Arbutin potently inhibits melanin formation. This property has been exploited in whitening cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Arbutin production relies mainly on chemical synthesis. The multi-step and complicated process can compromise product purity. With the increasing awareness of sustainable development, the current research direction prioritizes environment-friendly, biobased arbutin production. In this review, current strategies for arbutin production are critically reviewed, with a focus on plant extraction, chemical synthesis, biotransformation, and microbial fermentation. Furthermore, the bottlenecks and perspectives for future direction on arbutin biosynthesis are discussed.
ABSTRACT
Yeast strains with improved ethanol yield are important for efficient bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass for fuel ethanol.Candida shehatae CICC1766 was adapted to 4%(v/v)ethanol,and then subjected to UV mutagenesis.One respiration deficient mutant Rd-5 with improved xylose fermentation capability was selected.Protoplasts of Rd-5 were inactivated by UV treatment,followed by the PEG-mediated protoplast fusion with a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain with good ethanol-fermenting capability.The xylose fermenting capability of the fusants was investigated,and the fusant F6 demonstrated good ethanol fermentation performance,producing 18.75g/L ethanol from 50g/L xylose with an ethanol yield of 0.375 or 73.4% of its theoretical value of 0.511.Comparing with its parent Candida shehatae strain,the ethanol yield of F6 was increased by 28%.
