Pyruvic acid (CH3COCOOH) is an important organic acid, a ketone, as well as the simplest of the alpha-keto acids. The carboxylate (COO−) anion of pyruvic acid, its Bronsted–Lowry conjugate base, CH3COCOO−, is known as pyruvate, and is a key intersection in several metabolic pathways. Pyruvate can be made from glucose through glycolysis, converted back to carbohydrates (such as glucose) via gluconeogenesis, or to fatty acids through acetyl-CoA. It can also be used to construct the amino acid alanine and be converted into ethanol. Pyruvic acid is mainly produced by tartaric acid synthesis and lactic acid oxidization. But this production method cost much energy and pollute environment. So many scientist work hard to find a economic way to produce the pyruvic acid. The first choice is bio-manufacturing. It has many advantages such as environment friendly and highly quality. At present, if we want to effectively and economically produce pyruvic acid by bio-manufacturing, there are many key technologies to be solved. And the bacterial strain breeding and evolution is the core in the pyruvic acid production.

A team of scientist from TianJin Industrial Biotechnology Institute, Chinese Academy Sciences, led by Prof. Qinhong Wang, bred a new bacterial strain Torulopsis glabrata TIB-G90 that can endure the more highly temperature in pyruvic acid production. It can produce pyruvic acid at 40 centigrade degree and the production of pyruvic acid can reach 82g/L in 5 liter fermentor. And in large scale, it can produce pyruvic acid 80g/L in 100 liter fermentor.