Chiang Mai Journal of Science

Ferulic acid is a phenolic compound that is extremely abundant in the cell walls of plants. It has been of interest for use as a starting material in the bioconversion process of subsequent highly valuable compounds. In this study, Volvariella volvacea was investigated for its ability to convert ferulic acid to various products of degradation (4-vinyl guaiacol, vanillic acid and vanillyl alcohol) by HPLC and LC-DAD-ESIMS. The results showed that the mycelium of V. volvacea had potential to produce high amounts of 4-vinyl guaiacol (88.2 mg/L), vanillic acid (59.1 mg/L) and vanillyl alcohol (39.7 mg/L) at 42, 42 and 96 hours of growth on ferulic acid medium, respectively. Moreover, the effects of various sulfhydryl compounds and their derivatives of sulfur containing amino acids: cysteine, cysteine hydrochloride monohydrate, dithiothreitol, glutathione and methionine treatment on ferulic acid bioconversion were also investigated. Most all of the sulfhydryl compounds, except dithiothreitol, could enhance 4-vinyl guaiacol production; especially cysteine hydrochloride monohydrate which displayed a 47.9% increase in 4-vinyl guaiacol production (136.7 mg/L) when compared with the control. This is the first report of the bioconversion of ferulic acid into 4-vinyl guaiacol by V. volvacea.