On L-Glutamic Acid Fermentation

Sir: At present, the principal sources of L glutamic acid are wheat gluten and soybean cake. Steffen's molasse is also used for the isolation of L-glutamic acid. On the other hand, chemical synthesis has been applied to the preparation of glutamic acid; however the product obtained is always the DL-form which have to be separated from each other by rather difficult and expensive methods. A new practical method for the preparation of L-glutamic acid was devised. This method is concerned with the incubation of certain microorganisms in the medium containing glucose, ammonium salts and minerals. Searches for the microorganisms which are able to accumulate L-glutamate in the medium were carried out. The accumulation of L glutamate was detected in the cultures of the microorganisms belonging to the following genera: Micrococcus, Bacillus, Streptococcus, Xanthomonas, Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, Serratia, Escherichia, Aerobacter, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Mucor and Fungi imperfecti. Strains belonging to the Genus Micrococcus and Bacillus were proved to have a powerful ability to accumulate L-glutamate. A strain