Appl Microbiol Biotechnol DOI 10.1007/s00253-014-5743-2
BIOTECHNOLOGICAL PRODUCTS AND PROCESS ENGINEERING
Filamentous fungi in microtiter plates—an easy way to optimize itaconic acid production with Aspergillus terreus Antje Hevekerl & Anja Kuenz & Klaus-Dieter Vorlop
Received: 21 January 2014 / Revised: 28 March 2014 / Accepted: 30 March 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract Itaconic acid is an important industrial building block and is produced by the filamentous fungi Aspergillus terreus. To make the optimization process more efficient, a scale-down from shake flasks to microtiter plates was performed. This resulted in comparable product formations, and 87.7 g/L itaconic acid was formed after 10 days of cultivation in the microtiter plate. The components of the minimal medium were varied independently for a media optimization. This resulted in an increase of the itaconic acid concentration by a variation of the KH2PO4 and CuSO4 concentrations. The cultivation with a higher KH2PO4 concentration in a 400-mL bioreactor showed an increase in the maximum productivity of 1.88 g/L/h, which was an increase of 74 % in comparison to the reference. Neither the phosphate concentration nor the nitrogen sources were limited at the start of the product formation. This showed that a limitation of these substances is not necessary for the itaconic acid formation. Keywords Aspergillus terreus . Itaconic acid . Cultivation . Microtiter plate . Optimization
Introduction The finite nature of fossil raw materials requires an increasing use of bio-based materials. One of the most interesting platform chemicals is itaconic acid, which is an unsaturated
A. Hevekerl : A. Kuenz (*) : K.
BIOTECHNOLOGICAL PRODUCTS AND PROCESS ENGINEERING
Filamentous fungi in microtiter plates—an easy way to optimize itaconic acid production with Aspergillus terreus Antje Hevekerl & Anja Kuenz & Klaus-Dieter Vorlop
Received: 21 January 2014 / Revised: 28 March 2014 / Accepted: 30 March 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract Itaconic acid is an important industrial building block and is produced by the filamentous fungi Aspergillus terreus. To make the optimization process more efficient, a scale-down from shake flasks to microtiter plates was performed. This resulted in comparable product formations, and 87.7 g/L itaconic acid was formed after 10 days of cultivation in the microtiter plate. The components of the minimal medium were varied independently for a media optimization. This resulted in an increase of the itaconic acid concentration by a variation of the KH2PO4 and CuSO4 concentrations. The cultivation with a higher KH2PO4 concentration in a 400-mL bioreactor showed an increase in the maximum productivity of 1.88 g/L/h, which was an increase of 74 % in comparison to the reference. Neither the phosphate concentration nor the nitrogen sources were limited at the start of the product formation. This showed that a limitation of these substances is not necessary for the itaconic acid formation. Keywords Aspergillus terreus . Itaconic acid . Cultivation . Microtiter plate . Optimization
Introduction The finite nature of fossil raw materials requires an increasing use of bio-based materials. One of the most interesting platform chemicals is itaconic acid, which is an unsaturated
A. Hevekerl : A. Kuenz (*) : K.
