Influence of medium composition on the cephalosporin C production with a highly productive strain Cephalosporium acremonium.

Cephalosporin production by a highly productive Cephalosporium acremonium strain was carried out and optimized by fed-batch operation in a 40 l stirred tank reactor using a complex medium containing 30-120 g l-1 peanut flour. The concentrations of cephalosporin C (CPC) and its precursors: penicillin N (PEN N), deacetoxy cephalosporin C (DAOC), and deacetyl cephalosporin C (DAC) were monitored with an on-line HPLC. The concentrations of amino acids valine (VAL), cysteine (CYS), alpha-amino adipic acid (alpha-AAA), the dipeptide alpha-amino-adipyl-cysteine (AC), and the tripeptide alpha-amino-adipyl-cysteinyl-valine (ACV), were determined off-line by HPLC. The RNA content and dry weight of the sediment as well as the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) and the CO2 production rate (CPR) were used to calculate the cell mass concentration (X). The influences of peanut flour (PF) and the on-line monitored and controlled medium components: glucose (GLU), phosphate, methionine (MET) as well as the dissolved oxygen (DOC) on the cell growth, the product formation, and the pathway of cephalosporin C biosynthesis were investigated and evaluated. When the glucose fed-batch cycle was optimized and oxygen transfer limitation was avoided (DOC greater than 20% of the saturation value), high process performance (103.5 g l-1 X, 11.84 g l-1 CPC, a maximum CPC productivity of 118 mg l-1 h-1, and the whole concentration of the beta-lactam antibiotics CPC, DAC, DAOC, PEN N 17.34 g l-1) was achieved by using 100 g l-1 PF in the medium with the optimum concentration of phosphate (260-270 mg l-1) and a low glucose concentration (less than 0.5 g l-1). The cultivations with different medium concentrations demonstrated that the product formation was directly proportional to the cell mass concentration. On the average, the cell mass-based yield coefficient of CPC: YCPC/X amounted to 0.115 g CPC per g cell mass.