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Comparison of laser diffraction and image analysis for measurement of Streptomyces coelicolor cell clumps and pellets

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Abstract

Morphology is important in industrial processes involving filamentous organisms because it affects the mixing and mass transfer and can be linked to productivity. Image analysis provides detailed information about the morphology but, in practice, it is often laborious including both collection of high quality images and image processing. Laser diffraction is rapid and fully automatic and provides a volume-weighted distribution of the particle sizes. However, it is based on a number of assumptions that do not always apply to samples. We have evaluated laser diffraction to measure cell clumps and pellets of Streptomyces coelicolor compare to image analysis. Samples, taken five times during fed-batch cultivation, were analyzed by image analysis and laser diffraction. The volume-weighted size distribution was calculated for each sample. Laser diffraction and image analysis yielded similar size distributions, i.e. unimodal or bimodal distributions. Both techniques produced similar estimations of the population means, whereas the estimates of the standard deviations were generally higher using laser diffraction compared to image analysis. Therefore, laser diffraction measurements are high quality and the technique may be useful when rapid measurements of filamentous cell clumps and pellets are required.

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Acknowledgments

Peter Ödman for the in-house development of the laser diffraction method. The Ph.D. project of Nanna Petersen Rønnest is supported by a grant from the Innovative Bioprocess Technology Research Consortium financed by the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences, Chr. Hansen A/S, Danisco A/S and Novozymes A/S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 229, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Nanna Petersen Rønnest & Krist V. Gernaey

  2. Novozymes AS, Smørmosevej 25 (2 J.S12), 2880, Bagsværd, Denmark

    Stuart M. Stocks

  3. Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, Building 223, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Anna Eliasson Lantz

Authors
  1. Nanna Petersen Rønnest
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  2. Stuart M. Stocks
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  3. Anna Eliasson Lantz
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  4. Krist V. Gernaey
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Correspondence to Krist V. Gernaey.

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Rønnest, N.P., Stocks, S.M., Lantz, A.E. et al. Comparison of laser diffraction and image analysis for measurement of Streptomyces coelicolor cell clumps and pellets. Biotechnol Lett 34, 1465–1473 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-0936-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-0936-1

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