Vitamin B12 is one of the compounds that helps you maintain your nervous system, produce red blood cells and synthesize DNA. You can't produce vitamin B12 in your body. In fact, vitamin B12 is produced only by bacteria, but animals then incorporate it into their bodies, and you can get B12 by eating animal or bacterial products.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 assists in the function of two enzymes, one of which helps you produce a chemical called methionine. Methionine is an amino acid, or one of the building blocks of protein, and proteins form part of every cell in your body. The other enzyme that requires vitamin B12 plays a role in many different metabolic pathways, explain J. Martens and colleagues in a 2001 article published in "Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology." Without sufficient vitamin B12 -- you don't need to eat it each day, because you can store it in your tissues, but you have to consume it frequently enough to have adequate stores -- you'll suffer from anemia, fatigue, emotional problems and memory loss. Too long without vitamin B12 can cause permanent damage to your nervous system. Depending upon your diet, you may be able to go years without vitamin B12 in your diet before you become deficient, but some people can only go a few months before they start to show symptoms of deficiency.
Microbial Production
The natural production of vitamin B12 takes place only in bacteria. While some vegans are under the impression that yeast makes the vitamin, no yeast can synthesize B12. Nutritional yeast, however, generally has vitamin B12 added to it, so it's a source of the vitamin. Many different microbial species can synthesize B12, using a biochemical pathway that involves many different enzymes, explains. Dr. E. Raux and colleagues in a 1998 article in "Biochemical Journal."
Total Synthesis
Synthetic organic chemists attempt to make various carbon-based molecules such as vitamin B12 in the lab. Because they don't have the advantage of working with enzymes, which make complicated reactions happen quickly and easily. Organic chemists often have to develop long pathways to accomplish what living species can do relatively quickly. The total organic synthesis of vitamin B12 was accomplished in 1972, explains Robert Woodward in a 1973 article in "Pure and Applied Chemistry." The reaction required 69 steps, and while it was a true feat of synthetic chemistry, it was too long and convoluted to be an effective mechanism of industrial vitamin B12 production.
Industrial Production
To supplement animal feed and provide a source of B12 for inclusion in vitamins, industrial labs produce large quantities of the vitamin each year. This occurs primarily through fermentation of B12-producing bacteria, explain Martens and colleagues. It's possible to genetically enhance some bacterial species in a way that alters their vitamin B12 production, causing them to make many times more vitamin than they otherwise would, explain Y. Piao and colleagues in a 2004 article in the "Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering." Genetically enhanced bacteria form at least part of the pool of bacterial cultures producing B12 on an industrial scale.
References
- "Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology"; Microbial Production of Vitamin B12: J. Martens et al; 2001
- "Biochemistry Journal"; Cobalamin (Vitamin B12) Biosynthesis; E. Raux et al.; 1998
- "Pure and Applied Chemistry"; The Total Synthesis of Vitamin B12; R. Woodward; 1973
- "Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering"; Production of Vitamin B12 in Genetically Engineered Propionibacterium Freudenreichii; Y. Piao et al; 2004
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