Kinetic Modeling of Submerged Culture of A. blazei with Mixed Carbon Sources of Glucose and Dextrin

A mathematical model has been proposed for the batch culture of Agaricus blazei with mixed carbon sources of glucose and dextrin. In the proposed model, the metabolism of A. blazei was divided into three parts: cell growth, exopolysaccharides (EPS) production, and another EPS production pathway activated by dextrin hydrolysis. Each pathway was described mathematically and incorporated into the mechanistic model structure. Batch cultures were carried out with six different carbon source compositions. Although parameters were estimated by using the experimental data from the two extreme cases such as glucose only and dextrin only, the model represented well the profiles of glucose, cell mass, and EPS concentrations for all the six different carbon source mixtures, showing a good interpolation capability. Of note, the lag in EPS production could be quite precisely predicted by assuming that the glucose-to-cell mass ratio was the governing factor for EPS production.