Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

, Volume 32, Issue 2, pp 186–192 | Cite as

Selection of sulphur sources for the growth of Butyribacterium methylotrophicum and Acetobacterium woodii

  • J. H. F. G. Heijthuijsen
  • T. A. Hansen
Applied Microbiology
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Sulphide and cysteine inhibited growth of batch cultures of Butyribacterium methylotrophicum at moderate concentrations (above 0.5 mM) during growth on glucose (10 mM). The ability of several sulphur sources to replace sulphide was tested in cultures of B. methylotrophicum or Acetobacterium woodii. With sulphite (1 mM), thiosulphate (0.5 mM), elemental sulphur, and dithionite (1 mM), but not sulphate (1 mM), cultures of both organisms grew and produced some sulphide. With elemental sulphur as the sulphur source, toxic levels of sulphide accumulated. Optimal levels for the cultivation of B. methylotrophicum with sulphite were 0.5–2.0 mM, but at higher concentrations the growth rate decreased rapidly, while with dithionite up to 4.0 mM the growth rate was relatively unaffected. In chemostat cultures of B. methylotrophicum with dithionite (1 mM) as the sulphur source and glucose as the limiting substrate, dilution rates up to 0.40 h−1 were obtained. Thiosulphate could only be used in batch cultures in combination with the reductant titanium(III)nitriloacetate, but in continuous cultures the addition of the reductant to the reservoir was not necessary, because once growth had started enough sulphide was produced to keep the fermentor reduced. The maximum growth rate of B. methylotrophicum with thiosulphate in batch and continuous culture was 0.26 h−1. Both thiosulphate and dithionite are more convenient sulphur sources than sulphide, but dithionite is more versatile because of its reductive properties and the faster growth it allows.

Keywords

Sulphide Batch Culture Dilution Rate Maximum Growth Continuous Culture 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1989

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. H. F. G. Heijthuijsen
    • 1
  • T. A. Hansen
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of MicrobiologyUniversity of GroningenHarenThe Netherlands

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