Nocardia globerula NHB-2: Bench scale production of nicotinic acid

The intracellular nitrilase of Nocardia globerula NHB-2 induced by propionitrile catalyses the hydrolysis of 3-cyanopyridine to nicotinic acid without detectable formation of nicotinamide. N. globerula NHB-2 showed highest conversion rate at 40 mM 3-cyanopyridine, in 0.1 M NaH2PO4/Na2HPO4 buffer (pH 7.5) containing 5 mM 2-mercaptoethanol. In 1 l fed-batch reaction, containing 0.1 M NaH2PO4/Na2HPO4 buffer (pH 7.5), 4.2 g resting cells (dry weight), at 35 °C, 400 rpm, a total of 1 mol of 3-cyanopyridine added at feed rate of 0.12 mol h−1 was converted to nicotinic acid (98.6%) in 9 h. The rate of nicotinic acid production was 26 mmol h−1 g−1 DW.