A Natural Isolate Producing Shikimic Acid: Isolation, Identification, and Culture Condition Optimization

Shikimic acid has wide use in pharmaceuticals due to its application in the synthesis of drug Tamiflu used in the treatment of Swine flu. The high cost and limited availability of shikimic acid isolated from plants has impeded the use of this valuable building block of the drug. In this context, fermentation route to produce shikimic acid from renewable resources has become increasingly attractive. The present study was embarked upon isolation of wild-type microorganisms able to produce shikimic acid. Out of the 42 isolates obtained from the soil, isolate GR-21 was selected as the best with initial production of 0.54 g/L shikimic acid and later identified as Citrobacter sp. The process optimization resulted in 14-fold increase in the shikimic acid production, thereby claiming this process to be a sustainable alternative for the production of this important biomolecule. The process was further scaled up to 14 L bioreactor to validate the production of shikimic acid. Further, the product formed is shikimic acid was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The current studies suggest that the selected isolate could be used as a promising agent to fulfill the worldwide demand of shikimic acid.