Biotechnology Bulletin ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (11): 62-74.doi: 10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2025-0032

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A Decade Review and Technological Advances in the Field of Vitamin B 12 Biosysthesis

ZHANG Ji-jiao1,2(), WANG Hui-ying2, FANG Huan2,3,4,5(), ZHANG Da-wei1,2,3,4,5,6()   

  1. 1.School of Food Science, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116034
    2.Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308
    3.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049
    4.State Key Laboratory of Engineering Biology for Low-Carbon Synthesis, Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308
    5.National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology, Tianjin 300308
    6.College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin 300457
  • Received:2025-01-08 Online:2025-11-26 Published:2025-12-09
  • Contact: FANG Huan, ZHANG Da-wei E-mail:zhangjijiao@tib.cas.cn;fang_h@tib.cas.cn;zhang_dw@tib.cas.cn

Abstract:

Vitamin B12 is an essential small molecule compound for humans, animals and many microorganisms, which is widely involved in physiological processes such as one-carbon metabolism, homocysteine methylation and fatty acid metabolism. In recent years, with the development of microbiology and metabolic engineering, the research on microbial fermentation synthesis of vitamin B12 has made remarkable progress. In this paper, we first briefly introduce the vitamin B12 synthesis pathway, and then review several major microorganisms synthesizing vitamin B12 in the last decade, including the industrial production strain Pseudomonas denitrificans, Sinorhizobium meliloti, Ensifer adhaerens, and Propionibacterium freudenreichii, and newly emerged artificial strains in recent years for heterologous synthesis of vitamin B12. The article discusses the metabolic engineering strategies, fermentation processes and the potential application of these microorganisms in industrial production. In addition, current research challenges and future directions are analyzed, such as the application of genetic engineering modifications and metabolic regulation strategies in enhancing vitamin B12 production. The in-depth understanding of the synthetic pathways of these microorganisms is expected to provide new theoretical basis and technical support for industrial-scale vitamin B12 production.

Key words: vitamin B12, microorganisms, metabolic engineering, biosynthetic pathways, industrial production strains