Production of Propionibacterium shermanii biomass and vitamin B12 on spent media

Abstract

Aims: The propionibacteria are commercially important due to their use in the cheese industry, and there is a growing interest for their probiotic effects. Stimulatory effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on propionic acid bacteria have been observed. This study was designed to examine the possibility of using spent media previously used to grow LAB for the production of biomass and metabolites of Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii. Methods and Results: Seventeen MRS and vegetable juice media were prefermented by various LAB and evaluated for their ability to subsequently support the growth of Propionibacterium, using automated spectrophotometry (AS). Growth of Propionibacterium in spent media was strongly affected by the LAB strain used to produce the spent medium. The native MRS medium (not prefermented) yielded the highest optical density values followed by prefermented media by Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum and Lactococcus lactis. Prefermented cabbage juice enabled good growth of Propionibacterium. For the production of organic acids and vitamin B12, cells of Propionibacterium were concentrated and immobilized in alginate beads in the aim of accelerating the bioconversions. More propionic acid was obtained in spent media than in native MRS. The concentration of vitamin B12 was higher in media fermented with free cells than those with immobilized cultures; with the free cells, its concentration varied from 900 to 1800 ng ml )1 of media.Conclusions: It was demonstrated that spent media could be recycled for the production of Propionibacterium and metabolites, depending on the LAB strain that was previously grown. Media remediation is needed to improve the production of vitamin B12, especially with immobilized cells. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study presents an option for recycling of spent media generated by producers of LAB or producers of fermented vegetables. The propionic fermentation may result in three commercial products: biomass, vitamin B12 or organic acids, which may be used as starters, supplements or food preservatives. It is an attractive process from economical and environmental standpoints.

Vitamin B12 biosynthesis over waste frying sunflower oil as a cost effective and renewable substrate

“…The amount of produced acids in the present work is comparable with those in previous ones. Similar result was obtained by Gardner and Champagne (2005) who obtained between 10 and 20 g/L propionic acid using different native and spent MRS media by P. freudenreichii subsp. shermanii.…”

High cell density propionic acid fermentation with an acid tolerant strain of Propionibacterium acidipropionici

“…Many bacteria are capable of producing propionic acid. Particularly, the species in the genus of Propionibacterium , including P. acidipropionici , P. freudenreichii , and P. shermanii that have been widely used in industrial production of Swiss cheese and vitamin B 12 (Gardner and Champagne, ), have been intensively studied for propionic acid fermentation (Barbirato et al, ; Dishisha et al, ; Huang et al, ; Liang et al, ; Liu et al, ; Paik and Glatz, ; Wang and Yang, ; Yang et al, 1994, 1995; Zhu et al, ).…”

Engineering Propionibacterium acidipropionici for enhanced propionic acid tolerance and fermentation

“…Members of the genus Propionibacteria are widely used in industry for production of vitamin B 12 , tetrapyrrole compounds, propionic acid, as well as probiotic cultures, and Swiss cheese (Coronado et al, 2001;Gardner and Champagne, 2005;Hitchner, 1934;Kiatpapan and Murooka, 2002;Langsrud and Reinbold, 1973;Ozadali et al, 1996;Yongsmith and Apiraktivongse, 1983). Propionic acid is produced by propionibacteria in the dicarboxylic acid pathway, with acetate, succinate, and carbon dioxide as byproducts.…”