Enzyme-based microtiter plate assay for γ-aminobutyric acid: Application to the screening of γ-aminobutyric acid-producing lactic acid bacteria

An enzyme-based microtiter plate assay for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was developed. GABA was quantified using γ-aminobutyrate glutamate aminotransferase and succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase in the presence of NADP⁺ and -ketoglutarate. The NADPH produced by the series of enzymatic reactions was measured spectrophotometrically at 340 nm. A linear relationship between absorbance and the concentration of GABA was obtained in the ranges from 5.0 × 10⁻⁴ to 1.0 × 10⁻² M. The relative standard deviation for 10 successive measurements was 0.9% at the 10 mM GABA level. This analytical method was applied to the screening of GABA-producing lactic acid bacteria in de Man–Rogosa–Sharpe (MRS) medium. The proposed method enables one to assay 96 samples for an hour without the pre-treatment of samples. The method is by far superior to the traditional HPLC method from the point of view of rapidity and simplicity.