Bacterial production of D-erythroascorbic acid and L-ascorbic acid throughfunctional expression of Saccharomyces cerevisiae D-arabinono-1,4-lactone oxidase in Escherichia coli

D-Arabinono-1,4-lactone oxidase, which catalyzes the terminal step in the b iosynthesis of D-erythroascorbic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was func tionally expressed in Escherichia coli inherently lacking the enzyme. The r ecombinant E. coli strain expressing the enzyme could overproduce D-erythro ascorbic acid and L-ascorbic acid when supplied with D-arabinono-1,4-lacton e and L-galactono-1,4-lactone, respectively.