• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.269-278
• /
• 2003

Gibberellic acid (GA$_3$) is a commercially important plant growth hormone, which is gaining much more attention all over the world due to its effective use in agriculture and brewing industry. Industrially it is produced by submerged fermentation technique using Ascomycetous fungus Gibberella fujikuroi. Solid state and immobilized cell fermentation techniques had also been developed as an alternative to obtain higher yield of GA$_3$. This review summarizes the problems of GA$_3$ fermentation such as production of co-secondary metabolites along with GA$_3$, substrate inhibition and degradation of GA$_3$ to biologically inert compound gibberellenic acid, which limits the yield of GA$_3$ in the fermentation medium. These problems can be overcome by various bioprocessing strategies e.g. two - stage and fed batch cultivation processes. Further research on bioreactor operation strategies such as continuous and / or extractive fermentation with or without cell recycle / retention system need to be investigated for improvement in yield and productivity. Down stream processing for GA$_3$ isolation is also a challenge and procedures available for the same have been critically evaluated.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.256-267
• /
• 2019

The use of low-cost substrates represents one key issue to make single cell oil production sustainable. Among low-input crops, Arundo donax L. is a perennial herbaceous rhizomatous grass containing both C5 and C6 carbohydrates. The scope of the present work was to investigate and optimize the production of lipids by the oleaginous yeast Cutaneotrichosporon curvatus from undetoxified lignocellulosic hydrolysates of steam-pretreated A. donax. The growth of C. curvatus was first optimized in synthetic media, similar in terms of sugar concentration to hydrolysates, by applying the response surface methodology (RSM) analysis. Then the bioconversion of undetoxified hydrolysates was investigated. A fed-batch process for the fermentation of A. donax hydrolysates was finally implemented in a 2-L bioreactor. Under optimized conditions, the total lipid content was 64% of the dry cell weight and the lipid yield was 63% of the theoretical. The fatty acid profile of C. curvatus triglycerides contained 27% palmitic acid, 33% oleic acid and 32% linoleic acid. These results proved the potential of lipid production from A. donax, which is particularly important for their consideration as substitutes for vegetable oils in many applications such as biodiesel or bioplastics.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2000.04a
• /
• pp.53-56
• /
• 2000

Two-stage fed-batch culture was peformed to improve the volumetric productivity of erythritol. In the growth phase dissolved oxygen was maintained to 20% and the feed medium was automatically supplied to the fermenter by pH-stat mode. The cell yield was 0.76 g-cell/g-glucose. In two-stage fed-batch culture, 41% of total erythritol conversion yield with 187 g/L of erythritol concentration and 2.79 g/L-h of maximum erythritol Productivity were obtained when 400 g/L of glucose was directly added in the form of non-sterile powder at production phase. The erythritol productivity increased in parallel with cell mass. The metabolic shift in the biosynthetic pathway of erythritol was caused by dissolved oxygen concentration. The production of gluconic acid was observed when the dissolved oxygen in the medium was maintained over 40% during the production phase, whereas the dissolved oxygen concentration lower than 40% caused the production of citric acid. But the butyric acid was produced independently with dissolved oxygen concentration in the medium. The production of organic acids such as gluconic acid, citric acid, and butyric acid was decreased by addition of mineral salts.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.149-154
• /
• 2017

To increase the efficiency of esterase production by Bacillus, high cell-density culture of recombinant Escherichia coli through fed batch fermentation was tested. Cells were cultured to $OD_{600}$ of 76 (35.8 g/l DCW) with dissolved oxygen level controlled to least above 30% air saturation by supplying pure oxygen. Cells were cultured to an $OD_{600}$ of 90 (42.4 g/l DCW) with glucose feeding controlled to at least 1 g/l. However, the cells reached stationary phase at the late stage of culture, despite glucose being supplied. Cells were cultured to an $OD_{600}$ of 185 (87.3 g/l DCW) by supplying additional medium with fortified yeast extract. To increase the productivity of the recombinant protein, cell growth and esterase productivity based on induction time were evaluated. Late exponential phase induction for esterase production in fed batch fermentation resulted in maximum optical density $OD_{600}$ of 190 (89 g/l DCW) and maximum esterase activity of 1745 U/l, corresponding to a 5.8-fold enhancement in esterase production, compared to the early exponential phase induction. In this study, we established fermentation methods for achieving maximum production of Bacillus-derived esterase by optimizing IPTG induction time in high-cell density culture by supplying pure oxygen and a nitrogen source.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.170-175
• /
• 1995

The effect of nitrogen source on production of a high viscosity exopolysaccharide, methylan, from methanol by Mentylobacterium organophilum was investigated in fed-batch culture. During the fermentation, cells continued to grow even after the nitrogen source added to the medium was depleted and methylan production was stimulated under the condition which ammonium ion was depleted. Cell growth increased proportionally to the initial concentration of ammonium ion in the medium, but methylan production was significantly inhibited at the high concentration of ammonium ion. As the initial concentration of ammonium ion increased, the specific growth rate, the specific product formation rate and the specific substrate consumption rate decreased due to the inhibitory effect of excess ammonium ions. In order to reduce the inhibitory effect by high concentration of ammonium ion. The control of ammonium ion concentration within the desired level(usually $0.45g/\ell$) was necessary. When ammonium ion concentration was maintained below $0.15g/\ell$ by exponential feeding, methylan production could be increased up to $12.5g/\ell$.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.192-199
• /
• 2004

In this work the production of glutathione (GSH) by yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the monitoring of the process were studied. In shaking culture the production of GSH was high at initial pH value of 4 and at temperature of 30$^{\circ}C$. But when L-cysteine was added to the culture medium at the beginning of the cultivation, the productivity of GSH was low. In case 0,5% (v/v) of L-cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid were introduced to the culture medium in the exponential cell growth phase, high concentration of GSH (about 90 mg/L) was produced in the bioreactor. A fed-batch operation with stepwise glucose feeding strategy allowed to produce 102 mg/L of GSH. The cultivation processes were on-line monitored by a 2-dimensional fluorescence sensor. A few off-line data such as cell growth, cystein concentration, phosphate concentration and GSH productivity could be well correlated to the fluorescence intensity of some combinations of excitation and emission wavelengths.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.90-96
• /
• 2004

A synthetic defined medium, fortified with amino acids, was developed for the stable production of the kringle fragments of human apolipoprotein(a) (apo(a)), rhLK68. Using a complex rich medium containing yeast extract and a high-cell-density fed-batch culture, the expression level of rhLK68 reached 17% of the total cellular protein, which corresponded to $5\;g\;l^{-1}$ of the culture. To replace the complex media with chemically defined media, several amino acids that positively affect cell growth and gene expression were chosen by a statistical method. The various combinations of the selected amino acids were tested for its fortifying effect on a minimal defined medium. When glutamine only was added, the overall expression level of rhLK68 reached 93% of the complex rich medium increasing the specific expression level by 22.4% and decreasing the cell growth by 24%. Moreover, the addition of glutamine resulted in a 2-fold increase in the concentration of rhLK68 in the culture broth, compared with the minimal defined medium. The synthetic defined media developed in this study could be generally applied to high-cell-density cultures of the recombinant Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), especially for the production of therapeutic proteins that require a strict quality control of the culture media and fermentation processes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.400-406
• /
• 2012

To improve the hydrogen yield from biological fermentation of organic wastewater, a co-culture system of dark- and photo-fermentation bacteria was investigated. In a pure-culture system of the dark-fermentation bacterium Clostridium butyricum, a pH of 6.25 was found to be optimal, resulting in a hydrogen production rate of 18.7 ml-$H_2/l/h$. On the other hand, the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides could produce the most hydrogen at 1.81mol-$H_2/mol$-glucose at pH 7.0. The maximum specific growth rate of R. sphaeroides was determined to be 2.93 $h^{-1}$ when acetic acid was used as the carbon source, a result that was significantly higher than that obtained using either glucose or a mixture of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Acetic acid best supported R. sphaeroides cell growth but not hydrogen production. In the co-culture system with glucose, hydrogen could be steadily produced without any lag phase. There were distinguishable inflection points in a plot of accumulated hydrogen over time, resulting from the dynamic production or consumption of VFAs by the interaction between the dark- and photo-fermentation bacteria. Lastly, the hydrogen production rate of a repeated fed-batch run was 15.9 ml-$H_2/l/h$, which was achievable in a sustainable manner.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.537-544
• /
• 1998

The cultivation conditions of transformant Alcaligenes eutrophus AER5 harboring cloned phbC gene for mass production of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-3-hydroxyvalerate)[P(3HB-3HV)] containing high molar fraction of 3-hydroxyvalerate (3-HV) were investigated. In two-stage batch cultivation, transformant accumulated P(3HB-3HV) containing 52.2 mol% of 3HV compared to 30 mol% of parent strain A. eutrophus H16. The increased 3-HV molar fraction was due to the amplified activity of PHB synthase participating in condensation of 3-HB and 3-HV. To increase efficiency of P(3HB-3HV) accumulation, fructose was added along with precursor compound valerate, and total cell mass and P(3HB-3HV) concentrations remarkably increased, but not 3-HV molar fraction. The effect of magnesium ion showed that P(3HB-3HV) concentration and 3-HV molar fraction were significantly increased upto 6.1 g/L and 71.3 mol% at 0.01 g/L of MgSO$_4$, respectively. The efficiency of several pH adjuster, NaOH, NaOH and (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$, and NH$_4$OH, on total cell mass, p(3HB-3HV) concentration, and 3-HV molar fraction was also compared. To overcome the disadvantage of two-stage cultivation, one-stage intermittent fed-batch cultivation was attempted, such a way 10.0 g/L of fructose was supplied for cell growth at initial 36 hr and then 10.0 g/L of valerate and 5.0 g/L of fructose were applied to induce the accumulation of P(3HB-3HV), consequently, 10.4 g/L of P(3HB-3HV) with 38 mol% of 3-HV fraction could be obtained after 72 hr. These results can be used for elucidating cultivation strategy for mass production of P(3HB-3HV) containing high 3-HV molar fraction using transformant A. eutrophus AER5 harboring cloned phbC gene.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.532-539
• /
• 2004

For efficient lincomycin production from Streptomyces lincolnensis L1245, various vegetable oils, natural nitrogen sources, and surfactants were investigated at the pilot-scale level in the flask. Olive oil as the sole carbon source was the most suitable one for producing lincomycin. When 20 g/lof olive oil was used, the lincomycin concentration and lipase activity reached 1.01 g/land 182 U/ml, respectively, after 5 days of culture. Among the various unsaturated fatty acids, when linolenic acid was used, the cell growth and lincomycin production were markedly decreased. On the other hand, when 0.2 g/l of oleic acid was added to the culture broth, the maximum lincomycin concentration was 1.0 g/l, which was about 1.7-fold higher than that obtained without the addition of oleic acid. Among the various natural nitrogen sources, pharmamedia or soybean meal was the most suitable nitrogen source. In particular, in the case of a mixture of 10 g/l of pharmamedia and soybean meal, 1.5 g/l of lincomycin concentration and 220 U/ml of lipase activity were obtained. When Span 180 was used as the surfactant, lincomycin production, lipase activity, and oil consumption increased. The correlation between the consumption rates of oil and lincomycin production in a culture using olive oil as the sole carbon source was also investigated. The lincomycin production depended on the consumption rate of olive oil. Using these results, fed-batch cultures for comparing the use of olive oil and starch as a conventional carbon source were carried out in a 5-1 fermentor. When olive oil was used as the sole carbon source, 34 g/l of olive oil was consumed after 7 days of culture. The maximum lincomycin concentration was 3.0 g/l, which was about 2.0-fold higher than that of starch medium after 7 days of culture. The product yield was 0.09 gig of consumed carbon source, which was about 3.0-fold higher than that of starch medium after 7 days of culture.