High Cell Density Fed-batch Fermentation Research Articles

A more accurate modeling for fed-batch ethanol fermentation with high cell density

In fermentations with high cell density, the high volume occupied by the cells can impair the robustness of models. In this work, the cell volume was considered in the development of mass balances for fed-batch ethanol fermentations, which can be useful for industrial applications. Batch fermentation was modeled using a classical model, which ignores the volume occupied by the cells, and considering the volume occupied by the cells, with no significant difference observed between the estimated kinetic parameters. High cell density fed-batch fermentations were simulated and experimentally validated for different must substrate concentrations of 300 g·L−1 and 375 g·L−1 (very high gravity fermentation) in bench-scale assays. Comparison using different statistical indexes showed that the models had equal performance in predicting the profiles of cells and ethanol. However, for prediction of the substrate concentration, the proposed model presented better indexes, indicating that the cell volume should be considered in the development of fed-batch ethanol fermentation modeling. This approach could be used as an important tool for the improvement of optimization routines and process control, especially for the application of very high gravity fed-batch ethanol fermentations on an industrial scale, which allows an increase of ethanol production around 20% compared to the conventional process. Besides, it can be used in techno-economic assessments providing more accurate results thereby bringing economic gains.

Escherichia coli coculture for de novo production of esters derived of methyl-branched alcohols and multi-methyl branched fatty acids

BackgroundA broad diversity of natural and non-natural esters have now been made in bacteria, and in other microorganisms, as a result of original metabolic engineering approaches. However, the fact that the properties of these molecules, and therefore their applications, are largely defined by the structural features of the fatty acid and alcohol moieties, has driven a persistent interest in generating novel structures of these chemicals.ResultsIn this research, we engineered Escherichia coli to synthesize de novo esters composed of multi-methyl-branched-chain fatty acids and short branched-chain alcohols (BCA), from glucose and propionate. A coculture engineering strategy was developed to avoid metabolic burden generated by the reconstitution of long heterologous biosynthetic pathways. The cocultures were composed of two independently optimized E. coli strains, one dedicated to efficiently achieve the biosynthesis and release of the BCA, and the other to synthesize the multi methyl-branched fatty acid and the corresponding multi-methyl-branched esters (MBE) as the final products. Response surface methodology, a cost-efficient multivariate statistical technique, was used to empirical model the BCA-derived MBE production landscape of the coculture and to optimize its productivity. Compared with the monoculture strategy, the utilization of the designed coculture improved the BCA-derived MBE production in 45%. Finally, the coculture was scaled up in a high-cell density fed-batch fermentation in a 2 L bioreactor by fine-tuning the inoculation ratio between the two engineered E. coli strains.ConclusionPrevious work revealed that esters containing multiple methyl branches in their molecule present favorable physicochemical properties which are superior to those of linear esters. Here, we have successfully engineered an E. coli strain to broaden the diversity of these molecules by incorporating methyl branches also in the alcohol moiety. The limited production of these esters by a monoculture was considerable improved by a design of a coculture system and its optimization using response surface methodology. The possibility to scale-up this process was confirmed in high-cell density fed-batch fermentations.

Implementing Chemostat Fermentation of Pichia Pastoris Producing Recombinant HBsAg to Optimize Cell Density Affected by Methanol Rate

High cell density fed-batch fermentation is the main strategy for recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen (rHBsAg) production. In this study, we employed short-term continuous fermentation to optimize the cell density of recombinant Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris). After reaching the maximum specified broth volume of 5 L in the fed-batch fermentation process, the operation mode was altered into the continuous mode with a dilution rate of 0.009 1/h. We used various values of methanol inflow to examine its impact as a limiting nutrient on cell density. After reaching the steady-state point, the continuous fermentation was stopped. The process's performance was evaluated based on titer, yield, productivity, and ease of process control. According to the results, the optimal methanol inflow in the pilot-scale fermentation process was 39.9 ml/h as the cell density increased from 363 g/l wet cell weight (WCW) in the fed-batch stage to 450 g/l WCW. We could successfully scale up the fermentation process with the biomass concentration of 450 g/l without having any major issues such as excessive heat dissipation or insufficient oxygen supply. This approach is a simple method for enhancing rHBsAg production efficiency in P. pastoris without requiring any new and complex facility.

Expression of enzymes for 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) biosynthesis and their preparation for PAPS synthesis and regeneration.

The synthesis of sulfated polysaccharides involves the sulfation of simpler polysaccharide substrates, through the action sulfotransferases using the cofactor, 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS). Three enzymes are essential for the in vitro synthesis of PAPS, namely, pyrophosphatase (PPA), adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate kinase (APSK), and ATP sulfurylase (ATPS). The optimized enzyme expression ratio and effect on PAPS synthesis were evaluated using ePathBrick, a novel synthetic biology tool that assemble multiple genes in a single vector. The introduction of multiple promoters and stop codons at different location enable the bacterial system to fine tune expression level of the genes inserted. Recombinant vectors expressing PPA (U39393.1), ATPS (CP021243.1), and PPA (CP047127.1) were used for fermentations and resulted in volumetric yields of 400-1380 mg/L with accumulation of 34-66% in the soluble fraction. The enzymes from soluble fraction, without any further purification, were used for PAPS synthesis. The PAPS was used for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of a heparan sulfate polysaccharide and coupled with a PAPS-ASTIV regeneration system. ASTIV catalyzes the regeneration of PAPS. A recombinant vector expressing the enzyme ASTIV (from Rattus norvegicus) was used for fermentations and resulted in volumetric yield of 1153 mg/L enzyme with accumulation of 48% in the soluble fraction. In conclusion, we have successfully utilized a metabolic engineering approach to optimize the overall PAPS synthesis productivity. In addition, we have demonstrated that the ePathBrick system could be applied towards study and improvement of enzymatic synthesis conditions. In parallel, we have successfully demonstrated an autoinduction microbial fermentation towards the production of mammalian enzyme (ASTIV). KEY POINTS : • ePathBrick used to optimize expression levels of enzymes. • Protocols have been used for the production of recombinant enzymes. • High cell density fed-batch fermentations with high yields of soluble enzymes. • Robust fermentation protocol successfully transferred to contract manufacturing and research facilities.

High level extracellular production of recombinant γ-glutamyl transpeptidase from Bacillus licheniformis in Escherichia coli fed-batch culture

Increasing demand of microbial γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) in food and pharmaceutical sectors raised the need for process development for high level production of the enzyme. In this respect, GGT from Bacillus licheniformis ER15 (SBLGGT) was cloned along with its native secretion signal and expressed in E. coli using different expression vectors. Native signal of the enzyme assistedits extracellular translocationin E. coli.Maximum enzyme expression was shown by construct pET51b-sblggt,in comparison to other clones, in E. coli. Shake-flask cultivation and expression using Luria-Bertani (LB) medium resulted in 2800 U/l enzyme titers in 48 h which was furtherenhancedto 4.3-fold after optimizing various cultivation conditions viz. inducer concentration, agitation, medium and induction optical density. High cell density cultivation using fed-batch fermentation strategy resulted in 20-fold increase over shake flask studies to a level of 61250 U/l. After 24 h,the specific product yield was 2355 U/g dry cell weight (DCW)with volumetric productivity of 2552 U/l/h. Of the total enzyme expressed,40% was translocated extracellularly during high cell density fed-batch fermentation resulting in an enzyme activity of 24500 U/l in the extracellular medium after 24 h. This is the highest reported enzyme titers of bacterial GGT enzyme in E. coli expression system. Thus, the current study provides a cost-effective method for the over-expression and preparation of bacterial GGT enzyme for its industrial applications.

High yield production and purification of two recombinant thermostable phosphotriesterase-like lactonases from Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and Sulfolobus solfataricus useful as bioremediation tools and bioscavengers

BackgroundThermostable phosphotriesterase-like lactonases (PLLs) are able to degrade organophosphates and could be potentially employed as bioremediation tools and bioscavengers. But nowadays their manufacturing in high yields is still an issue that limits their industrial applications. In this work we aimed to set up a high yield production and purification biotechnological process of two recombinant PLLs expressed in E. coli, the wild type SacPox from Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and a triple mutated SsoPox C258L/I261F/W263A, originally from Sulfolobus solfataricus. To follow this aim new induction approaches were investigated to boost the enzyme production, high cell density fermentation strategies were set-up to reach higher and higher enzyme yields up to 22-L scale, a downstream train was studied to meet the requirements of an efficient industrial purification process.ResultsPhysiological studies in shake flasks demonstrated that the use of galactose as inducer increased the enzyme concentrations up to 4.5 folds, compared to the production obtained by induction with IPTG. Optimising high cell density fed-batch strategies the production and the productivity of both enzymes were further enhanced of 26 folds, up to 2300 U·L− 1 and 47.1 U·L− 1·h− 1 for SacPox and to 8700 U·L− 1 and 180.6 U·L− 1·h− 1 for SsoPox C258L/I261F/W263A, and the fermentation processes resulted scalable from 2.5 to 22.0 L. After being produced and extracted from the cells, the enzymes were first purified by a thermo-precipitation step, whose conditions were optimised by response surface methodology. A following ultra-filtration process on 100 and 5 KDa cut-off membranes drove to a final pureness and a total recovery of both enzymes of 70.0 ± 2.0%, suitable for industrial applications.ConclusionsIn this paper, for the first time, a high yield biotechnological manufacturing process of the recombinant enzymes SacPox and SsoPox C258L/I261F/W263A was set-up. The enzyme production was boosted by combining a new galactose induction approach with high cell density fed-batch fermentation strategies. An efficient enzyme purification protocol was designed coupling a thermo-precipitation step with a following membrane-based ultra-filtration process.

Enhanced heterologous expression of Trichoderma reesei Cel5A/Cel6A in Pichia pastoris with extracellular co‐expression of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin

AbstractBACKGROUNDThe deficiency of family 5 endoglucanase (Cel5A) and family 6 cellobiohydrolase (Cel6A) has become a key limiting factor on cellulase enzymatic hydrolysis in bioprocessing of cellulosic biomass. To improve the production of Trichoderma reesei Cel5A / Cel6A, a Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) gene was tried to co‐express extracellularly for the first time with Cel5A / Cel6A in Pichia pastoris GS115.RESULTSNewly constructed recombinant of co‐expressing Cel5A / Cel6A extracellularly with VHb was consistent with the single expression at some key variables of culture condition, i.e. inoculum size, initial pH, culture temperature and methanol concentration. Comparing their single expression, the CMCase activity of co‐expressed Cel5A and Cel6A enzymes enhanced by 40% and 30%, respectively. With high‐cell‐density fed‐batch (HCDFB) fermentation, the co‐expressed Cel5A enzyme activity was 366.8 U mL‐1 with 4.3 g L‐1 protein content and the Cel6A enzyme activity reached 1.3 U mL‐1 with 2.23 g L‐1 protein content. The two co‐expressed enzyme activities were enhanced by 35% and 20%, respectively, compared with the single expression.CONCLUSIONVHb protein capable of binding oxygen can be successfully co‐expressed extracellularly with other target proteins. The co‐expression of VHb with recombinant Cel5A / Cel6A is efficient at improving oxygen‐limited condition and thus enzyme production in both shake‐flask and HCDFB fermentation. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry

Propionic acid production from corn stover hydrolysate by Propionibacterium acidipropionici

BackgroundThe production of value-added chemicals alongside biofuels from lignocellulosic hydrolysates is critical for developing economically viable biorefineries. Here, the production of propionic acid (PA), a potential building block for C3-based chemicals, from corn stover hydrolysate is investigated using the native PA-producing bacterium Propionibacterium acidipropionici.ResultsA wide range of culture conditions and process parameters were examined and experimentally optimized to maximize titer, rate, and yield of PA. The effect of gas sparging during fermentation was first examined, and N2 was found to exhibit improved performance over CO2. Subsequently, the effects of different hydrolysate concentrations, nitrogen sources, and neutralization agents were investigated. One of the best combinations found during batch experiments used yeast extract (YE) as the primary nitrogen source and NH4OH for pH control. This combination enabled PA titers of 30.8 g/L with a productivity of 0.40 g/L h from 76.8 g/L biomass sugars, while successfully minimizing lactic acid production. Due to the economic significance of downstream separations, increasing titers using fed-batch fermentation was examined by changing both feeding media and strategy. Continuous feeding of hydrolysate was found to be superior to pulsed feeding and combined with high YE concentrations increased PA titers to 62.7 g/L and improved the simultaneous utilization of different biomass sugars. Additionally, applying high YE supplementation maintains the lactic acid concentration below 4 g/L for the duration of the fermentation. Finally, with the aim of increasing productivity, high cell density fed-batch fermentations were conducted. PA titers increased to 64.7 g/L with a productivity of 2.35 g/L h for the batch stage and 0.77 g/L h for the overall process.ConclusionThese results highlight the importance of media and fermentation strategy to improve PA production. Overall, this work demonstrates the feasibility of producing PA from corn stover hydrolysate.

Engineering of β-carotene hydroxylase and ketolase for astaxanthin overproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The conversion of β-carotene to astaxanthin is a complex pathway network, in which two steps of hydroxylation and two steps of ketolation are catalyzed by β-carotene hydroxylase (CrtZ) and β-carotene ketolase (CrtW) respectively. Here, astaxanthin biosynthesis pathway was constructed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by introducing heterologous CrtZ and CrtW into an existing high β-carotene producing strain. Both genes crtZ and crtW were codon optimized and expressed under the control of constitutive promoters. Through combinatorial expression of CrtZ and CrtW from diverse species, nine strains in dark red were visually chosen from thirty combinations. In all the selected strains, strain SyBE_Sc118060 with CrtW from Brevundimonas vesicularis DC263 and CrtZ from Alcaligenes sp. strain PC-1 achieved the highest astaxanthin yield of 3.1 mg/g DCW. Protein phylogenetic analysis shows that the shorter evolutionary distance of CrtW is, the higher astaxanthin titer is. Further, when the promoter of crtZ in strain SyBE_Sc118060 was replaced from FBA1p to TEF1p, the astaxanthin yield was increased by 30.4% (from 3.4 to 4.5 mg/g DCW). In the meanwhile, 33.5-fold increase on crtZ transcription level and 39.1-fold enhancement on the transcriptional ratio of crtZ to crtW were observed at early exponential phase in medium with 4% (w/v) glucose. Otherwise, although the ratio of crtZ to crtW were increased at mid-, late-exponential phases in medium with 2% (w/v) glucose, the transcription level of both crtZ and crtW were actually decreased during the whole time course, consequently leading to no significant improvement on astaxanthin production. Finally, through high cell density fed-batch fermentation using a carbon source restriction strategy, the production of astaxanthin in a 5-L bioreactor reached to 81.0 mg/L, which was the highest astaxanthin titer reported in yeast. This study provides a reference to greatly enhance desired compounds accumulation by employing the key enzyme(s) in microbes. Open image in new window

Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica for Campesterol Overproduction.

Campesterol is an important precursor for many sterol drugs, e.g. progesterone and hydrocortisone. In order to produce campesterol in Yarrowia lipolytica, C-22 desaturase encoding gene ERG5 was disrupted and the heterologous 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase (DHCR7) encoding gene was constitutively expressed. The codon-optimized DHCR7 from Rallus norvegicus, Oryza saliva and Xenapus laevis were explored and the strain with the gene DHCR7 from X. laevis achieved the highest titer of campesterol due to D409 in substrate binding sites. In presence of glucose as the carbon source, higher biomass conversion yield and product yield were achieved in shake flask compared to that using glycerol and sunflower seed oil. Nevertheless, better cell growth rate was observed in medium with sunflower seed oil as the sole carbon source. Through high cell density fed-batch fermentation under carbon source restriction strategy, a titer of 453±24.7 mg/L campesterol was achieved with sunflower seed oil as the carbon source, which is the highest reported microbial titer known. Our study has greatly enhanced campesterol accumulation in Y. lipolytica, providing new insight into producing complex and desired molecules in microbes.

Biosynthesis of odd-chain fatty alcohols in Escherichia coli

Engineered microbes offer the opportunity to design and implement artificial molecular pathways for renewable production of tailored chemical commodities. Targeted biosynthesis of odd-chain fatty alcohols is very challenging in microbe, due to the specificity of fatty acids synthase for two-carbon unit elongation. Here, we developed a novel strategy to directly tailor carbon number in fatty aldehydes formation step by incorporating α-dioxygenase (αDOX) from Oryza sativa (rice) into Escherichia coli αDOX oxidizes Cn fatty acids (even-chain) to form Cn−1 fatty aldehydes (odd-chain). Through combining αDOX with fatty acyl–acyl carrier protein (-ACP) thioesterase (TE) and aldehyde reductase (AHR), the medium odd-chain fatty alcohols profile (C11, C13, C15) was firstly established in E. coli. Also, medium even-chain alkanes (C12, C14) were obtained by substitution of AHR to aldehyde decarbonylase (AD). The titer of odd-chain fatty alcohols was improved from 7.4mg/L to 101.5mg/L in tube cultivation by means of fine-tuning endogenous fatty acyl-ACP TE (TesA′), αDOX, AHRs and the genes involved in fatty acids metabolism pathway. Through high cell density fed-batch fermentation, a titer of 1.95g/L odd-chain fatty alcohols was achieved, which was the highest reported titer in E. coli. Our system has greatly expanded the current microbial fatty alcohols profile that provides a new brand solution for producing complex and desired molecules in microbes.

Development of a feeding strategy for high cell and PHA density fed-batch fermentation of Ralstonia eutropha H16 from organic acids and their salts

The utilization of inexpensive carbon sources, including waste streams, for production of value added products has been explored for over two decades. Palm oil mill effluent (POME), a waste water stream from the palm oil industry, can be used to produce organic acids and their salts by anaerobic digestion. These organic acids are suitable as the main carbon source for growth and production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by organisms like Ralstonia eutropha. The presence of propionate/propionic acid results in the biosynthesis of the copolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) [P(HB-co-HV)], which is desired for its favourable thermal and mechanical properties compared to the polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) homopolymer. A specially-designed fed-batch strategy is necessary to decrease the toxic effects of organic acids in cultures of R. eutropha. A pH-stat fed-batch culture technique, using organic acids as the main carbon source, was adopted in combination with an additional pO2-dependent feed for delivering organic acid salts. The developed strategy is highly reproducible and shows a high productivity of >2g PHA/L/h. After 44h of fermentation, 112.4±2.3g/L cell dry weight (CDW) with 83.3±1.1% P(HB-co-HV)/CDW containing 5.6±0.4mol% 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) were achieved. The described productivity, CDW and P(HB-co-HV)/CDW values are by far the highest reported results for R. eutropha cultivated on mixed organic acids as the main carbon source.

Real-time monitoring of glycerol and methanol to enhance antibody production in industrial Pichia pastoris bioprocesses

Monoclonal antibody production in glycoengineered Pichia pastoris was optimized for high cell density fed-batch fermentations. Results show that antibody productivity was 1.72-fold higher when maintaining oxygen-limited conditions compared to methanol-limited conditions during the protein production phase of the bioprocess. Under oxygen-limited conditions with a 30mmolL−1h−1 of oxygen uptake rate, an optimum methanol dosage level of 10gL−1 was established by comparing antibody titers under different methanol dosages during protein production. Real-time on-line NIR monitoring of glycerol concentration, methanol concentration, and relative cell density provided valuable data for process characterization and optimization. Real-time profiles of glycerol concentration and relative cell density documented run-to-run consistency during the batch and fed-batch phases by analyses of the glycerol consumption and cell growth kinetics. The volumetric methanol consumption rate was characterized for the induction process following the end of the glycerol fed-batch phase. Under oxygen-limited conditions, the volumetric methanol consumption rate increased over a 60-h period and this increase was independent of the methanol concentration over a range of 2.5–30gL−1 when the oxygen utilization rate was maintained at 30mmolL−1h−1. Utility of the on-line NIR monitor is demonstrated over the one-year period of this investigation by accurately tracking biomass, glycerol concentration, and methanol concentration without user required recalibration as well as by documenting abnormal events during high cell density bioprocesses.

Engineering a Streptomyces coelicolor biosynthesis pathway into Escherichia coli for high yield triglyceride production.

BackgroundMicrobial lipid production represents a potential alternative feedstock for the biofuel and oleochemical industries. Since Escherichia coli exhibits many genetic, technical, and biotechnological advantages over native oleaginous bacteria, we aimed to construct a metabolically engineered E. coli strain capable of accumulating high levels of triacylglycerol (TAG) and evaluate its neutral lipid productivity during high cell density fed-batch fermentations.ResultsThe Streptomyces coelicolor TAG biosynthesis pathway, defined by the acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) Sco0958 and the phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAP) Lppβ, was successfully reconstructed in an E. coli diacylglycerol kinase (dgkA) mutant strain. TAG production in this genetic background was optimized by increasing the levels of the TAG precursors, diacylglycerol and long-chain acyl-CoAs. For this we carried out a series of stepwise optimizations of the chassis by 1) fine-tuning the expression of the heterologous SCO0958 and lppβ genes, 2) overexpression of the S. coelicolor acetyl-CoA carboxylase complex, and 3) mutation of fadE, the gene encoding for the acyl-CoA dehydrogenase that catalyzes the first step of the β-oxidation cycle in E. coli. The best producing strain, MPS13/pET28-0958-ACC/pBAD-LPPβ rendered a cellular content of 4.85% cell dry weight (CDW) TAG in batch cultivation. Process optimization of fed-batch fermentation in a 1-L stirred-tank bioreactor resulted in cultures with an OD600nm of 80 and a product titer of 722.1 mg TAG L-1 at the end of the process.ConclusionsThis study represents the highest reported fed-batch productivity of TAG reached by a model non-oleaginous bacterium. The organism used as a platform was an E. coli BL21 derivative strain containing a deletion in the dgkA gene and containing the TAG biosynthesis genes from S. coelicolor. The genetic studies carried out with this strain indicate that diacylglycerol (DAG) availability appears to be one of the main limiting factors to achieve higher yields of the storage compound. Therefore, in order to develop a competitive process for neutral lipid production in E. coli, it is still necessary to better understand the native regulation of the carbon flow metabolism of this organism, and in particular, to improve the levels of DAG biosynthesis.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-014-0172-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Production of LYZL6, a novel human c-type lysozyme, in recombinant Pichia pastoris employing high cell density fed-batch fermentation

Lysozyme acts as an important defensive factor in innate immunity due to its well-recognized bacteriolytic activity. Here we describe the production and performance of human lysozyme-like 6 (LYZL6), a novel human c-type lysozyme homolog. A synthetic codon-optimized cDNA encoding the intact amino acid sequence of LYZL6 was cloned and expressed in Pichia pastoris SMD1168. Bioactive LYZL6 was successfully produced as a single major secreted protein with a molecular weight of 15kDa, and exhibited bacteriolytic activity against Micrococcus lysodeikticus. The expression conditions were optimized, and the highest expression level of LYZL6 occurred when the recombinant strain was induced with 1.5% methanol under pH 4.5 at 24°C for 96h. When high cell density fermentation of the recombinant P.pastoris was performed using a fed-batch strategy for totally 125h in a 30L fermenter, the dry cell weight and the extracellular lysozyme activity were increased to 116.3g/L and 2340U/mL, respectively. The LYZL6 protein concentration was 331mg/L of fermentation supernatant, and the specific activity of LYZL6 towards M.lysodeikticus was 7069U/mg. Therefore, we proved that LYZL6 is an antibacterial protein, suggesting a potential application of LYZL6 as an antimicrobial agent, and Pichia expression system for LYZL6 was successful and industrially promising.

High cell density fed-batch fermentation for the production of a microbial lipase

Extracellular lipase of the yeast Candida rugosa was produced via high cell density fed-batch fermentations using palm oil as the sole source of carbon and energy. Feeding strategies consisted of a pH-stat operation, foaming-dependent control and specific growth rate control in different experiments. Compared to foaming-dependent feeding and the pH-stat operation, the specific growth rate control of feeding proved to be the most successful. At the specific growth rate control set at 0.05h−1, the final lipase activity in the culture broth was the highest at ∼700UL−1. This was 2.6-fold higher than the final enzyme activity obtained at a specific growth rate control set at 0.15h−1. The peak enzyme concentration achieved using the best foaming-dependent control of feeding was around 28% of the peak activity attained using the specific growth rate control of feeding at 0.05h−1. Similarly, the peak enzyme concentration attained using the pH-stat feeding operation was a mere 9% of the peak activity attained by specific growth rate control of feeding at a set-point of 0.05h−1. Fed-batch fermentations were performed in a 2L stirred-tank bioreactor (30°C, pH 7) with the dissolved oxygen level controlled at 30% of air saturation.

Crude glycerol as feedstock for the sustainable production of p-hydroxybenzoate by Pseudomonas putida S12

Crude glycerol is a promising renewable feedstock in bioconversion processes for the production of fuels and chemicals. Impurities present in crude glycerol can however, negatively impact the fermentation process. Successful crude glycerol utilization requires robust microbial production hosts that tolerate and preferably, can utilize such impurities. We investigated utilization of crude, unpurified glycerol as a substrate for the production of aromatic compounds by solvent tolerant Pseudomonas putida S12. In high-cell density fed-batch fermentations, P. putida S12 surprisingly performed better on crude glycerol than on purified glycerol. By contrast, growth of Escherichia coli was severely compromised under these high cell density cultivation conditions on crude glycerol. For P. putida S12 the biomass-to-substrate yield, maximum biomass production rate and substrate uptake rate were consistently higher on crude glycerol. Moreover, production of p-hydroxybenzoate by engineered P. putida S12palB5 on crude glycerol showed a 10% yield improvement over production on purified glycerol. P. putida S12 is a favorable host for bioconversion processes utilizing crude glycerol as a substrate. Its intrinsic stress-tolerance properties provide the robustness required for efficient growth and metabolism on this renewable substrate.

High cell density fed-batch fermentations for lipase production: feeding strategies and oxygen transfer

This review is focused on the production of microbial lipases by high cell density fermentation. Lipases are among the most widely used of the enzyme catalysts. Although lipases are produced by animals and plants, industrial lipases are sourced almost exclusively from microorganisms. Many of the commercial lipases are produced using recombinant species. Microbial lipases are mostly produced by batch and fed-batch fermentation. Lipases are generally secreted by the cell into the extracellular environment. Thus, a crude preparation of lipases can be obtained by removing the microbial cells from the fermentation broth. This crude cell-free broth may be further concentrated and used as is, or lipases may be purified from it to various levels. For many large volume applications, lipases must be produced at extremely low cost. High cell density fermentation is a promising method for low-cost production: it allows a high concentration of the biomass and the enzyme to be attained rapidly and this eases the downstream recovery of the enzyme. High density fermentation enhances enzyme productivity compared with the traditional submerged culture batch fermentation. In production of enzymes, a high cell density is generally achieved through fed-batch operation, not through perfusion culture which is cumbersome. The feeding strategies used in fed-batch fermentations for producing lipases and the implications of these strategies are discussed. Most lipase-producing microbial fermentations require oxygen. Oxygen transfer in such fermentations is discussed.

Enhancing polyhydroxybutyrate production from high cell density fed-batch fermentation of Bacillus megaterium BA-019

This study demonstrated the improved polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) production via high cell density cultivation of Bacillus megaterium BA-019 with balanced initial total sugar concentration and carbon to nitrogen (C/N) weight ratio. In the 10L stirred fermentor operated at 30°C, pH 7.0, 600rpm, and 1.0vvm air, with the initial total sugar concentration of 60g/L and urea at the C/N weight ratio of 10:1, 32.48g/L cell biomass with the corresponding PHB weight content of 26.94% and volumetric productivity of 0.73g/Lh were obtained from batch cultivation. Continuing cultivation by intermittent feeding of the sugarcane molasses along with urea at the C/N weight ratio of 12.5:1 gave much improved biomass and PHB production (90.71g/Lbiomass with 45.84% PHB content and 1.73g/Lh PHB productivity). Similar biomass and PHB yields were obtained in the 90L stirred fermentor when using the impeller tip speed as the scale-up criterion.

Production of salmosin, a snake venom-derived disintegrin, in recombinant Pichia pastoris using high cell density fed-batch fermentation

Salmosin, a snake venom-derived disintegrin, was successfully expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris and secreted into the culture supernatant, as a 6 kDa protein. High-cell density fermentation of recombinant P. pastoris was optimized for the mass production of salmosin. In a 5 L jar fermentor, recombinant P. pastoris was fermented in growth medium containing 5% (w/v) glycerol at the controlled pH of 5.0. After culturing for 21 h, glycerol feeding medium was fed at one time into the culture broth. After 7 h (a total of 28 h), induction medium that contained methanol was increasingly added until the culture time totaled 75 h. Finally, these optimized culture conditions produced a high cell density of recombinant P. pastoris (dry cell weight of 113.38 g/L) and led to the mass production of salmosin (a total protein concentration of 369.2 mg/L). The culture supernatant containing salmosin inhibited platelet aggregation, resulting in a platelet aggregation of 9% compared to that of 94% in the control experiment, without culture supernatant. These results demonstrate that recombinant salmosin in culture supernatant from high cell density fed-batch fermentation can serve as a platelet aggregation inhibitor.