DefinePK

Abstract

The present study deals with the improvement of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain GCU-36 for L-phenylacetylcarbinol (L-PAC) production through randomely induced mutagenesis. The wild culture gave 2.58 g/l L-PAC production. An enhancement in the production was, however observed when yeast cells were exposed to mutagenic agents viz. ultraviolet (UV) radiations, nitrous acid (HNO) and ethylmethane sulphonate (EMS). The mutant culture gave a maximal of 5.61 g/l L-PAC production which was over 2.17 fold improvement in terms of product 2 formation. The outcome of an inferior mutant with declined L-PAC production level marked the termination of further mutagenesis.