Effect of Growth Rate on the Production of L-Proline in the Fed-batch Culture of Corynebacterium acetoacidophilum

Corynebacterium acetoacidophilum RYU3161 was cultivated in a L-histidine-limited fed-batch culture. To investigate the effect of cell growth on the L-proline production, 5 L fed-batch culture was performed using an exponential feeding rate to obtain the specific growth rates $(\mu)$ of 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.1 $h_1$. The results show that the highest production of L-proline was obtained at $\mu$ = 0.04 $h_1$. The specific L-proline production rate $(Q_p)$ increased pro-portionally as a function of the specific growth rate, but decreased after it revealed the maxi-mum value at $\mu$ = 0.08 $h_1$. Thus, the highest productivity of L-proline was 1.66 g $L^-^1 h^-^1$ at $\mu$ = 0.08 $h_1$. The results show that the production of L-proline in C. acetoacidophilum RYU3161 has mixed growth-associated characteristics.