Induction and elimination of oscillations in continuous cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Continuous cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are known to exhibit oscillatory behavior in the oxidative region. Important findings of a series of experiments conducted to identify the causes for initiation of and the means for elimination of oscillations in these cultures are reported in this paper. These oscillations are seen to be connected to the growth kinetics of the microorganism and are induced at very low glucose concentrations and at dissolved oxygen (DO) levels that are neither high nor low (DO values between 20 and 78% air saturation at a dilution rate of 0.2 h(-1) and pH of 5.5 at 30 degrees C). The oscillatory behavior is encountered over a range of dilution rates (0.09-0.25 h(-1) at 30 degrees C for pH = 5.5 and DO = 50% air saturation). The oscillations can be eliminated by raising the DO level above a critical value or by lowering the DO level below a critical value.