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Metabolic activity of Corynebacterium glutamicum grown on l-lactic acid under stress

  • Applied Microbial and Cell Physiology
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Abstract

Respiration measurement in shake flasks is introduced as a new method to characterize the metabolic activity of microorganisms during and after stress exposure. The major advantage of the new method is the possibility to determine the metabolic activity independent of manual sampling without the necessity to change the culture vessel or the cultivation medium. This excludes stress factors, which may be induced by transferring the microorganisms to plates or respirometers. The negative influence, which interruptions of the shaker during sampling times may have on the growth of microorganisms was demonstrated. The applicability of the method was verified by characterizing the behavior of Corynebacterium glutamicum grown on the carbon source l-lactic acid under stress factors such as carbon starvation, anaerobic conditions, lactic acid, osmolarity, and pH. The following conditions had no effect on the metabolic activity of C. glutamicum: a carbon starvation of up to 19 h, anaerobic conditions, lactic acid concentrations up to 10 g/l, 3-(N-morpholino) propanesulfonic acid buffer concentrations up to 42 g/l, or pH from 6.4 to 7.4. Lactic-acid concentrations from 10 to 30 g/l lead to a decrease of the growth rate and the biomass substrate yield without effecting the oxygen substrate conversion. Without adaptation, the organism did not grow at pH≤5 or ≥9.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dipl.-Ing. Karen Otten and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Horst R. Maier from the institute for ceramic components in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University for their help and advice. This work was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

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  1. Biochemical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Sammelbau Biologie, Worringerweg 1, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Juri M. Seletzky, Ute Noack, Jens Fricke, Sebastian Hahn & Jochen Büchs

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  1. Juri M. Seletzky
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  2. Ute Noack
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Correspondence to Jochen Büchs.

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Seletzky, J.M., Noack, U., Fricke, J. et al. Metabolic activity of Corynebacterium glutamicum grown on l-lactic acid under stress. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 72, 1297–1307 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-006-0436-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-006-0436-0

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