Enhancement of Biotransformation Yield in 11$\alpha$-Hydroxylation of Progesterone by Continuous Addition of the Substrate

Progesterone의 연속첨가에 의한 11$\alpha$-hydroxyprogesterone으로의 생물전환수율의 증대

Biotransformation of progesterone to 11 $\alpha$ -hydroxyprogesterone by growing cells of Rhizopus nigricans was investigated. As the concentration of progesterone increased, the specific growth rate of R. nigricans decreased linearly, and consequently the conversion yield lowered. The hyphae of the microorganism were observed to become thicker, shorter, and more densely branched at high concentrations of progesterone. In order to improve the process productivity, biotransformation was conducted with continuous addition of progesterone. When the substrate was added continuously at a rate of 0.86 g/hr for 30 hrs, overall conversion yield reached upto 56% while a single addition of the same amount of progesterone yielded about 40% eonversion. When additional feeding of glucose was carried out upon its depletion, an improved br'oconversion yield upto 68% was obtained.