High density cultivation of Anchusa officinalis in a stirred-tank bioreactor with in situ filtration

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology 1995-12, Vol.44 (3/4), p.293-299
• Main Authors: Su, W.W, Lei, F, Kao, N.P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anchusa officinalis; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Sciences; Biotechnology; Eukaryotic cell cultures; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Miscellaneous; plant biochemistry; Plant cells and fungal cells; plant physiology
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00169919

Previously, Su et al. [Biotechnol Bioeng 42: 884-890 (1993)] reported improved production of rosmarinic acid by Anchusa officinalis in shake-flask cultures using a cultivation strategy that involved intermittent medium exchange. Implementation of this cultivation strategy in 2.5(-1) stirred-tank bioreactor cultures is investigated in the present study. Intermittent cell/medium separation in the bioreactor was accomplished by means of automated in situ culture filtration. In the bioreactor culture, rosmarinic acid production was found very sensitive to agitation and aeration conditions as well as dissolved oxygen concentration. A maximum cell density of 35 g dry weight/l and a rosmarinic acid concentration of 3.7 g/l were obtained by maintaining the dissolved oxygen concentration above 30% air saturation, gradually raising the impeller tip speed from 34 cm/s to 72 cm/s, and keeping the aeration rate at 0.44 vvm while increasing the O2: air ratio in the gas feed stream to 4:1. This result is comparable with the data obtained from shake-flask cultures using the same culture strategy.