Probiotic lactic acid bacterium from kanjika as a potential source of vitamin B12: evidence from LC-MS, immunological and microbiological techniques

Vitamin B12 was produced by probiotic
Lactobacillus plantarum in submerged fermentation
(96 h) with successive anaerobic and aerobic phases
of 48 h each to give 13 ng vitamin B12/g dry biomass.
Sodium cyanide-mediated cell lysis, followed by
benzyl alcohol/chloroform/water extraction, improved
the release of intracellular vitamin B12 for analysis.
The presence of the K+ adduct of cyanocobalamin
(m/z of 1394) was established using electron spray
ionization–mass spectra; growth of a mutant of
Escherichia coli in the presence of cyanocobalamin
ascertained its bioavailability.