L-DOPA (L-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) is the most effective treatment for Parkinson's disease. In the present research, isolation and characterization of L-tyrosine-degrading yeast strains and evaluation their ability as biocatalyst for the biological conversion of L-tyrosine into L-dopa was investigated. L-tyrosine-degrading yeast strain Mar19 with the highest ability to converting L-tyrosine into L-dopa was phenotypically and molecularly characterized and its ITS1–5.8 S–ITS2 rDNA sequence was submitted as Debaryomyces sp. strain Mar19 (GeneBank accession no. KX268664).The effect of various parameters on bioconversion L-tyrosine into L-dopa was investigated under resting cell strategy. Based on our results, the maximal L-dopa concentration (0.56 g/l with a molar yield of 40 %) was achieved after a 48 hour reaction. Spectrophotometer observations and Mass spectroscopy as well as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses revealed the presence of L-dopa in the bioconversion reaction. This is the first report on the biological synthesis of L-dopa from L-tyrosine using the genus Debaryomyces isolated from Caspian Sea.
