Production of D-arabitol by a metabolic engineered strain of Bacillus subtilis

A novel method for D‐arabitol production with a metabolically engineered Bacillus subtilis strain is described. A known transketolase‐deficient and D‐ribose‐producing mutant of B. subtilis (ATCC 31094) was further modified by disruption of its rpi (D‐ribose phosphate isomerase) gene to create a D‐ribulose‐ and D‐xylulose‐producing B. subtilis strain. Expression of the D‐arabitol phosphate dehydrogenase gene of Enterococcus avium in the D‐ribulose‐ and D‐xylulose‐producing strain resulted in a strain of B. subtilis capable of converting D‐glucose to D‐arabitol with a high yield (38%) and little by‐product formation.