Continuous production of gibberellic acid in a fixed-bed reactor by immobilized mycelia of Gibberella fujikuroi in calcium alginate beads

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology 1989-03, Vol.30 (3), p.226-233
• Main Authors: Saucedo, J.E.N, Barbotin, J.N, Thomas, D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alginates; Biological and medical sciences; bioreactors; Biotechnology; calcium; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gibberella fujikuroi; gibberellic acid; immobilization; immobilized cells; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Microbial engineering. Fermentation and microbial culture technology; mycelium; production
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00256209

The continuous production of gibberellic acid with immobilized mycelia of Gibberella fujikuroi was maintained over a hundred days in a tubular fixed-bed reactor. Free mycelium at the beginning of the storage phase was harvested from G. fujikuroi shake-flask culture and was immobilized by ionotropic gelation in calcium alginate beads. The continuous recycle production system consisted of a fixed-bed reactor, a container in which the culture medium was heated, stirred and aerated, and valves for sample withdrawal or reactant addition during the first 1320 h (55 days). The results show about the same gibberellic acid productivity in both free and immobilized mycelium shake flask cultures: 0.384 and 0.408 mgGA sub(3) multiplied by gbiomass super(-1) multiplied by day super(-1), respectively, whereas in the continuous system the gibberellic acid production is about twice as large for a similar biomass: 0.768 mgGA sub(3) multiplied by gbiomass super(-1) multiplied by day super(-1).