Abstract
Heterotrophic growth at steady state and during transient states caused by the sudden change of the concentration of the limiting factor in the feed medium was investigated experimentally for continuous cultures ofAquaspirillum autotrophicum limited by pyruvate. A model for describing the growth at steady state was selected from three unstructured models after statistical tests of the data. This model postulates that the growth yield increases linearly with the growth rate. Growth during transitions where the substrate remained limiting at all times was fitted with first-order kinetics. Theoretical predictions of these kinetics were derived from the unstructured models used to describe steady state. The predicted rate coefficients of the transients were compared to the experimental coefficients. It appeared that the model which best described steady-state growth also provided the best predictions for growth during the transient state. It is a widespread opinion that unstructured models are adequate to describe growth under steady-state conditions but not to predict transitions in continuous culture. However, for the particular case studied here, no higher degree of complexity was required to describe transitions, provided the growth of the culture was always limited by the substrate.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aragno M & Schlegel HG (1978a)Aquaspirillum autotrophicum, a new species of hydrogen-oxidizing, facultatively autotrophic bacteria. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 28: 112–116
Aragno M & Schlegel HG (1978b) Physiological characterization of the hydrogen bacteriumAquaspirillum autotrophicum. Arch. Microbiol. 116: 221–229
Aragno M & Schlegel HG (1991) The hydrogen-oxidizing (Knallgas) bacteria. In: Balows A, Trüper HG, Dworkin M, Harder W & Schleifer KH (Ed) The Prokaryotes, a Handbook on Biology of Bacteria, Vol. 1 (pp 344–384). Springer Verlag, New York
Ataai MM & Shuler ML (1985) Simulation of CFSTR through development of a mathematical model for anaerobic growth ofEscherichia coli cell population. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 27: 1051–1055
Blackman FF (1905) Optima and limiting factors. Annals of Botany 19: 281–295
Chu IM & Papoutsakis T (1987) Growth dynamics of a methylotroph (Methylomonas L3) in continuous culture. II. Growth inhibition and comparison against an unstructured model. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 29: 65–71
Cordier J-L, Butsch BM, Birou B & von Stockar U (1987) The relationship between elemental composition and heat of combustion of microbial biomass. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 25: 305–312
Dabes JN, Finn RK & Wilke CR (1973) Equations of substrate-limited growth: the case for Blackmann kinetics. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 15: 1159–1177
van Dam K & Jansen N (1991) Quantification of control of microbial metabolism by substrates and enzymes. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 60: 209–223
Egli T, Lendenmann U & Snozzi M (1993) Kinetics of microbial growth with mixtures of carbon sources. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 63: 289–298
Esener AA, Roels JA & Kossen NWF (1983) Theory and applications of unstructured growth models: kinetic and energetic aspects. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 25: 2803–2841
Heineken FG, Tsuchiya HM & Aris R (1967) On the mathematical status of the pseudo-steady state hypothesis of biochemical kinetics. Math. Biosci. 1: 95–113
Hempfling WP & Vishniac W (1967) Yield coefficients ofThiobacillus neapolitanus in continuous culture. J. Bacteriol. 93: 874–878
Koch AL & Wang CH (1982) How close to the theoretical diffusion limit do bacterial uptake systems function? Arch. Microbiol. 131: 36–42
Kuenen JG (1979) Growth yields and “maintenance energy requirement” inThiobacillus species under energy limitation. Arch. Microbiol. 122: 183–188
Lengeler JW (1993) Carbohydrate transport in bacteria under environmental conditions, a black box? Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 63: 275–288
Mateles RI, Ryu DY & Yasuda T (1965) Measurement of unsteady-state growth of micro-organisms. Nature 208: 263–265
Minkevich IG & Utkina LI (1979) Time scale in the dynamics of continuous cultivation of microorganisms. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 21: 357–391
Monod J (1942) Recherches sur la croissance des cultures bactériennes. Hermann & Cie., Paris
Monod J (1950) La technique de culture continue, théorie et application. Ann. Inst. Past. 79: 390–410
Münster U (1993) Concentrations and fluxes of organic carbon substrates in the aquatic environment. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 63: 243–274
Neijssel OM & Tempest DW (1976a) Bioenergetics aspects of aerobic growth ofKlebsiella aerogenes NCTC418 in carbon-limited and carbon-sufficient chemostat cultures. Arch. Microbiol. 107: 215–221
Neijssel OM & Tempest DW (1976b) The role of energy-spilling reactions in the growth ofKlebsiella aerogenes NCTC 418 in aerobic chemostat culture. Arch. Microbiol. 110: 305–311
Pagni M, Beffa T, Isch C & Aragno M (1992) Linear growth and poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) synthesis in response to pulse-wise addition of the growth-limiting substrate to steady state heterotrophic continuous cultures ofAquaspirillum autotrophicum. J. Gen. Microbiol. 138: 429–436
Pirt SJ (1965) The maintenance energy of bacteria in growing cultures. Proc. Roy. Soc. 163B: 224–231
Pirt SJ (1982) Maintenance energy: a general model for energy-limited and energy-sufficient growth. Arch. Microbiol. 133: 300–302
Pronk JT, de Bruijn P, van Dijken JP, Bos P & Kuenen JG (1990) Energetics of mixotrophic and autotrophic-C1-metabolism byThiobacillus acidophilus. Arch. Microbiol. 154: 576–583
Reich JG & Sel'kov EE (1974) Mathematical analysis of metabolic networks. FEBS Lett. Suppl. 40: 119–127
Robinson JA (1985) Determining microbial kinetic parameters using nonlinear regression analysis. Adv. Microb. Ecol. 8: 61–114
Rutgers M, Balk PA & van Dam K (1990) Quantification of multiple-substrate controlled growth — simultaneous ammonium and glucose limitation in chemostat cultures ofKlebsiella pneumoniae. Arch. Microbiol. 153: 478–484
Storer FF & Gaudy AF (1969) Computational analysis of transient response to quantitative shock loadings of heterogeneous populations in continuous culture. Environmental Science & Technology 3: 143–149
Strässle C, Sonnleitner B & Fiechter A (1989) A predictive model for the spontaneous synchronization ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae grown in continuous culture. II experimental verification. J. Biotechnol. 9: 191–208
van Verseveld HW, Chesbro WR, Braster M & Stouthamer AH (1984) Eubacteria have 3 growth modes keyed to nutrient flow. Consequences for the concept of maintenance and maximal growth yield. Arch. Microbiol. 137: 176–184
Zwietering MH, Jongenburger I, Rombouts FM & van't Riet K. (1990) Modeling of the bacterial growth curve. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 56: 1875–1881
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pagni, M., Egger, L. & Aragno, M. The relationship between kinetics of substrate-limited transitions and steady-state growth in continuous cultures ofAquaspirillum autotrophicum limited by pyruvate. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 68, 181–189 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871813
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871813