Statistical Optimization of Production Medium for Enhanced Production of Succinic Acid Produced by Anaerobic Fermentations of Actinobacillus succinogenes

Statistical medium optimization has been carried out for the production of succinic acid in anaerobic fermentations of Actinobacillus succinogenes. Succinic acid utilized as a precursor of many industrially important chemicals is a fourcarbon dicarboxylic acid, biosynthesized as one of the fermentation products of anaerobic metabolism by A. succinogenes. Through OFAT (one factor at a time) experiments, corn steep liquor (CSL), a very cheap agricultural byproduct, was found to have significant effects on enhanced production of succinic acid, when supplemented along with yeast extract. Hence, using these factors including glucose as a carbon/energy source, interactive effects were investigated through $2^n$ full factorial design (FFD) experiments, showing that the concentration of each component (i.e., glucose, yeast extract and CSL) should be higher. Further statistical experiments were conducted along the steepest ascent path, followed by response surface method (RSM) in order to find out optimal concentrations of each constituent. Consequently, optimized concentrations of glucose, yeast extract and CSL were observed to be 180 g/L, 15.08 g/L and 20.75 g/L respectively (10 g/L of $NaHCO_3$ and 100 g/L of $MgCO_3$ to be supplemented as bicarbonate suppliers), with the estimated production level of succinic acid to be 92.9 g/L (about 3.5 fold higher productivity as compared to the initial medium). Notably, the RSM-estimated production level was almost similar to the amount of succinic acid (92.9 g/L vs. 89.1 g/L) produced through the actual fermentation process performed using the statistically optimized production medium.

Actinobacillus succinogenes의 혐기성배양에 의해 생합성 되는 숙신산의 생산성 향상을 위한 통계적 생산배지 최적화