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The lack of a nitrogen source and/or the C/N ratio affects the molecular weight of alginate and its productivity in submerged cultures of Azotobacter vinelandii

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Abstract

The effect of a nitrogen (N) source on growth of the N-fixing bacteria Azotobacter vinelandii was evaluated in terms of the production of alginate and its macromolecular characteristics [mean molecular weight (MMW) and viscosity] in the presence of an organic or inorganic N-source or under N-fixing conditions, in submerged shake flask cultures. The effect of the C/N ratio was also investigated in the best alginate-producing nitrogen sources. The best N-sources were peptone, tryptone, and yeast extract, yielding a maximal final alginate concentration of 4.0 ± 0.4 g/L. Under N-fixing conditions, only 1.7 ± 0.2 g/L alginate was obtained. The highest MMW was obtained in cultures grown with peptone (1,520 ± 110 kDa), and cultures grown with yeast extract, tryptone, ammonium acetate, and ammonium sulfate were not significantly different, showing values between 1,400 and 1,100 kDa. On the other hand, a lower MMW was obtained under N-fixing conditions (625 ± 110 kDa). Higher alginate productivity was obtained using a C/N ratio of 14:1 for the best inorganic N-source, but when using the best organic N-source, no significant differences were observed by increasing the amount of nitrogen at a C/N ratio of 29:1. The lower alginate production under N-fixing conditions, along with the lower MMW, led us to propose that A. vinelandii sacrifices production of the biopolymer by establishing other mechanisms that can protect the polymerase complex—findings that are consistent with the current existing literature.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially financed by project SEP-CONACYT (82533, and 103393), PAPIIT-UNAM (IN228509) and DINAIN-Universidad Nacional de Colombia (20601005065). The authors thank Prof. Orlando Ruiz, Director of the “Laboratorio de suelos, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia” for his technical support, Maria Fernanda Nava-Ocampo for her technical support in C/N relation replicates, and to Dr. Carlos Peña, and Prof. Dr. Enrique Galindo for their technical support. We also thank Ana Delgado for reviewing the English version of the manuscript.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela de Procesos y Energía, Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín, Carrera 80 No. 65-223, Medellín, Colombia

    Ana M. Zapata-Vélez & Mauricio A. Trujillo-Roldán

  2. Centro Nacional de Producción más Limpia y Tecnologías Ambientales, Carrera 46 # 56-11, Medellín, Colombia

    Ana M. Zapata-Vélez

  3. Unidad de Bioprocesos, Departamento de Inmunología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP. 70228, México, D.F., CP. 04510, México

    Mauricio A. Trujillo-Roldán

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  1. Ana M. Zapata-Vélez
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  2. Mauricio A. Trujillo-Roldán
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Correspondence to Mauricio A. Trujillo-Roldán.

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Zapata-Vélez, A.M., Trujillo-Roldán, M.A. The lack of a nitrogen source and/or the C/N ratio affects the molecular weight of alginate and its productivity in submerged cultures of Azotobacter vinelandii . Ann Microbiol 60, 661–668 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-010-0111-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-010-0111-7

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