Production of spiculisporic acid by Talaromyces trachyspermus in fed-batch bioreactor culture

Maki Moriwaki-Takano,Chikako Asada,Yoshitosi Nakamura

doi:10.1186/s40643-021-00414-1

Maki Moriwaki-Takano, Chikako Asada + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40643-021-00414-1

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Abstract

Spiculisporic acid (SA) is a fatty acid-type biosurfactant with one lactone ring and two carboxyl groups. It has been used in metal removers and cosmetics, because of its low propensity to cause irritation to the skin, its anti-bacterial properties, and high surface activity. In the present study, we report an effective method for producing SA by selecting a high-producing strain and investigating the effective medium components, conditions, and environments for its culture. Among the 11 kinds of Talaromyces species, T. trachyspermus NBRC 32238 showed the highest production of a crystalline substance, which was determined to be SA using NMR. The strain was able to produce SA under acidic conditions from hexoses, pentoses, and disaccharides, with glucose and sucrose serving as the most appropriate substrates. Investigation of nitrogen sources and trace metal ions revealed meat extract and FeCl3 as components that promoted SA production. Upon comparing the two types of cultures with glucose in a baffle flask or aeration bioreactor, SA production was found to be slightly higher in the flask than in the reactor. In the bioreactor culture, sucrose was found to be an appropriate substrate for SA production, as compared to glucose, because with sucrose, the lag time until the start of SA production was shortened. Finally, fed-batch culture with sucrose resulted in 60 g/L of SA, with a total yield of 0.22 g SA/g sucrose and a productivity of 6.6 g/L/day.

Highlights

Surfactants are among the most versatile chemicals used in a variety of industries, including detergents, paints, paper products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, petroleum, food, and water treatment (Elazzazy et al 2015; Mahamallik and Pal 2017; Varjani and Upasani 2017)
Screening for a biosurfactant‐producing strain Eleven strains of Talaromyces were compared for Spiculisporic acid (SA) production, to select for the high-producing strains
T. trachyspermus NBRC 32238 produced the highest SA yield of 11.3 g/L, while the others produced a slight amount of SA, of no more than 3 g/L

Summary

Introduction

Surfactants are among the most versatile chemicals used in a variety of industries, including detergents, paints, paper products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, petroleum, food, and water treatment (Elazzazy et al 2015; Mahamallik and Pal 2017; Varjani and Upasani 2017). The mass production of many biosurfactants is difficult and expensive because of the low productivity of microorganisms and low availability of raw materials (Santos et al 2016). These biosurfactants are biosynthesized primarily as secondary metabolites and play an important role in microbial growth and localization. Based on the chemical structure of the hydrophobic component, biosurfactants are classified into four categories: (1) glycolipid-type, (2) fatty acid-type, (3) lipopeptide-type, and (4) polymertype (Raffa et al 2015; Vijayakumar and Saravanan 2015). Rhamnolipids are produced by Pseudomonas sp., and surfactin of the cyclic lipopeptide is produced by Bacillus subtilis (Soberón-Chávez et al 2005; Chen et al 2015)

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