Presently, antibitics are commonly used in treatment of human and livestock diseases. However, this method has many disadvantages: efficiency is limited to certain microorganism groups, side effects may occur and especially, traces of antibiotic may remain in the host. Antibiotic traces are an important parameter when approving the importation of agriculture products in many countries in the world. Through intensive research, NANOGEN has produced a new, effective bioproduct that replaces the use of antibiotics to prevent and treat infectious diseases in human and livestock : MICROCIN – with reuterin as the main component.

Figure 1: Fermentation of Lactobacillus in anaerobic conditions

Reuterin is a mixture of monomer, hydrate monomer and cyclic dimer of β- hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) that is produced by Lactobacillus through anaerobic fermentation of glycerol. Reuterin is water soluble, active at wide pH range  (pH2 – 8), and resistant  to proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes, so it is biologically stable.

Reuterin is a broad spectrum antimicrobial compound active at low concentration. It inhibits the growth of most harmful microorganisms: Gram positive bacteria, Gram negative bateria, mould, yeast, parasites and even viruses. However, reuterin does not have any negative effects to host cells, for it only influences naked DNA but not histon complexed DNA. Traces of reuterin do not remain in treated animals. Its antimicrobial activity is due to competition with ribonucleotide for a recognition site on ribonucleotide reductase – the first enzyme of DNA synthesis. Morever, HPA also affects thioredoxin.

Reuterin has many significant applications such as prevention and treatment of human and livestock diseases; processing and preservation of food; and as a precursor in chemical engineering and biotechnology, etc

Figure 2: Measurement of reterin effectiveness using MIC method

In the world, reuterin has been produced through anaerobic fermentation of glycerol with suitable temperature and pH conditions but only in small scale laboratories. With a team of international, highly qualified scientists, and the latest technological equipment, NANOGEN successfully isolated Lactobacillus reuteri strains that produce high levels of reuterin. The keys to NANOGEN's breakthrough are synthesis of an improved glycerol dehydrogenase enzyme by recombinant protein technology and optimization of production process for industrial scale synthesis, NANOGEN is thus able to produce large amounts of high-activity reuterin. Our production process for MICROCIN was patented in Vietnam in 2007 and MICROCIN was on the list of treatment products in aquaculture of nafiquavet issued in January of 2006.