An improved process for synthesis of nicotinic acid using hyper induced whole cell nitrilase of Gordonia terrae MTCC8139

Nitrilase mediated synthesis of nicotinic acid (vitamin B3) from 3-cyanopyridine has emerged as promising viable alternative to its chemical synthesis. In the present investigation, the nitrilase production in Gordonia terrae MTCC8139 has been increased by two fold with inducer feeding approach [i.e. the addition of 0.5% (v/v) isobutyronitrile as inducer at 0, 16 and 24 h of incubation of the culture]. The use of hyper induced whole cell nitrilase of G. terrae as biocatalyst (10 U per ml reaction) to synthesize nicotinic acid from 3-cyanopyridine in a fed batch reaction at one litre scale resulted in accumulation of 1.65 M (202 g) nicotinic acid in 330 min. The catalytic productivity of hyper induced whole cell nitrilase was increased from 8.95 to 15.3 g/h/g dcw and the reaction time was reduced to half. This is the highest productivity of nicotinic acid in a nitrilase mediated process so far reported. The achievements of the present investigation will lead to mitigate the cost of nitrilase vis-a-vis nicotinic acid production at large scale.