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Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 as a model for rhamnolipid production in bioreactor systems

  • Biotechnological Products and Process Engineering
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Abstract

Rhamnolipids are biosurfactants with interesting physico-chemical properties. However, the main obstacles towards an economic production are low productivity, high raw-material costs, relatively expensive downstream processing, and a lack of understanding the rhamnolipid production regulation in bioreactor systems. This study shows that the sequenced Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO1 is able to produce high quantities of rhamnolipid during 30 L batch bioreactor cultivations with sunflower oil as sole carbon source and nitrogen limiting conditions. Thus PAO1 could be an appropriate model for rhamnolipid production in pilot plant bioreactor systems. In contrast to well-established production strains, PAO1 allows knowledge-based systems biotechnological process development combined with the frequently used heuristic bioengineering approach. The maximum rhamnolipid concentration obtained was 39 g/L after 90 h of cultivation. The volumetric productivity of 0.43 g/Lh was comparable with previous described production strains. The specific rhamnolipid productivity showed a maximum between 40 and 70 h of process time of 0.088 gRL/gBDMh. At the same time interval, a shift of the molar di- to mono-rhamnolipid ratio from 1:1 to about 2:1 was observed. PAO1 not only seems to be an appropriate model, but surprisingly has the potential as a strain of choice for actual biotechnological rhamnolipid production.

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Acknowledgment

We want to thank the Fachagentur für nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (FNR) for funding the project. Thanks go to Dr. Frank Rosenau for kindly providing the strain P. aeruginosa PAO1 and Siegfried Almstedt for construction and installation of a new non-commercially available mechanical foam breaker.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Bio-und Lebensmitteltechnik, Technische Biologie, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engler-Bunte-Ring 1, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Markus Michael Müller, Barbara Hörmann, Christoph Syldatk & Rudolf Hausmann

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  1. Markus Michael Müller
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  2. Barbara Hörmann
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  3. Christoph Syldatk
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  4. Rudolf Hausmann
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Correspondence to Markus Michael Müller.

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Müller, M.M., Hörmann, B., Syldatk, C. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 as a model for rhamnolipid production in bioreactor systems. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 87, 167–174 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2513-7

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