First, the effect of different levels of nitrogen source on clavulanic acid (CA) production was evaluated in batch cultivations utilizing complex culture medium containing glycerol and three different levels of soy protein isolate (SPI). Cellular growth, evaluated in terms of the rheological parameter K, was highest with a SPI concentration of 30 g.L(-1) (4.42 g.L(-1) N total). However, the highest production of CA (380 mg.L(-1)) was obtained when an intermediate concentration of 20 g.L(-1) of SPI (2.95 g.L(-1) total N) was used. To address this, the influences of volumetric flow rate (F) and glycerol concentration in the complex feed medium (Cs(F)) in fed-batch cultivations were investigated. The best experimental condition for CA production was F=0.01 L.h(-1) and Cs(F)=120 g.L(-1), and under these conditions maximum CA production was practically twice that obtained in the batch cultivation. A single empirical equation was proposed to relate maximum CA production with F and Cs(F) in fed-batch experiments.

a b s t r a c tXylooligosaccharides (XOs) are small oligomers constituted by 2−10 units of xylan monomers, with important nutraceutical properties. They can be produced through hydrolysis of xylan catalyzed by an endoxylanase. The use of immobilized and stabilized enzymes may decrease the industrial process costs. In this study, XynA, a recombinant enzyme from B. subtilis, was immobilized in three different supports: agarose and chitosan activated with glyoxal groups and chitosan activated with glutaraldehyde. High immobilization yields were obtained, 100% for agarose-glyoxal and chitosan-glutaraldehyde, 82% for chitosan-glyoxal, with recovered activities of 42.7 (±1.3), 10.7 ± 0.8 and 53.6% (± 1.7), respectively. A great increase in the thermal stability of the enzyme (at 56 • C, pH 5.5) was achieved for the glyoxal derivatives: 75-fold for chitosan and 8600-fold for agarose. The great thermal stability obtained to the derivative agarose-glyoxal can be explained by the enzyme immobilization through lysine residues located in unstable sites of the protein structure. The agarose-glyoxal derivative was tested in the production of XOs (X2, X3 and X4) from soluble and conventional birchwood xylan, reaching approximately 20% of conversion in 3 h and 23% in 24 h, without the undesirable xylose production. After 10 cycles of hydrolysis, the conversion remained almost unchanged.

No abstract

-The influence of glycerol and ornithine feeding on clavulanic acid (CA) production by Streptomyces clavuligerus was investigated. In batch experiments, CA maximum concentration (Cp max ) ranged randomly from 430 to 560 mg.L -1 , with a maximum increase of 10% in relation to the control run, without ornithine. However, the maximum volumetric productivity of CA (Pp max ) of 13.7 mg.L -1 .h -1 was obtained with 0.66 g.L -1 of ornithine, 44.2% higher than the Pp max in the control run. In fed-batch experiments, Cp max varied within the narrow range from 1.254 to 1.405 g.L -1 , 2.5 times higher than that obtained in the control run. The presence of ornithine increased the Pp max , although it influenced only slightly the Cp max . Concerning glycerol, the highest CA production of 1.6 g.L -1 was obtained in the fed-batch with glycerol and ornithine (180 and 3.7 g.L −1 ) in a 10-L bioreactor, showing a positive effect of ornithine and glycerol, in the proper proportion (48.6:1), on CA biosynthesis.

No abstract

A study was made for purification of cephamycin C from fermentation of Streptomyces clavuligerus. Initially, the culture broth was clarified by microfiltration and ultrafiltration, after which the resulting permeates were subjected to nonspecific adsorption and ion-exchange chromatography on resin columns. The antibiotic activity was measured by the biological method at each stage by assaying its activity against the Escherichia coli ESS, super sensitive to β-lactam antibiotic. The purification processes were assessed in relation to the variables affecting each step. The purification efficiency by nonspecific adsorption was monitored by UV spectrophotometry, while the ion-exchange adsorption fractions were assessed by NMR spectroscopy. Some of the fractions obtained during purification were also analyzed by mass spectrometry (LC/MS and LC/MS/MS) to identify the cephamycin C molecule. These preliminary results proved the process feasibility.

The kinetics of clavulanic acid production process by Streptomyces clavuligerus NRRL 3585 was studied. Experiments were carried out in a 4 liters bioreactor, utilizing 2 complex media containing glycerol as the carbon and energy source, and peptone or Samprosoy 90NB (soybean protein) as nitrogen source. Temperature was kept at 28°C and the dissolved oxygen was controlled automatically at 40 % saturation value. Samples were withdrawn for determination of cell mass (only peptone medium), glycerol and product concentrations. Gas analyzers allowed on line determination of CO2 and O2 contents in the exit gas. With Samprosoy, cell mass was evaluated by determining glycerol consumption and considering the cell yield, Y X/S, as being the same for both cases. Oxygen uptake and CO2 production rates were strongly related to growth and substrate consumption, allowing determination of stoichiometric constants in relation to growth, substrate, oxygen, product and carbon dioxide

No abstract