[Effect of cyclic changes in culture conditions on the growth kinetics and physiological characteristics of yeasts].

Candida utilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida scottii were used to study the effect of cyclic changes in the pH and pO2 within a range of 1 to 60 min on their growth kinetics and physiological properties. These changes were shown to increase the specific growth rate from 0.33 to 0.5-0.6 h-1 without decreasing the economic coefficient and the quantity of budding cells during 2-3 generations of the exponentially growing batch culture of C. utilis. Optimal conditions of cyclic changes in the pO2 (minutes) were found to increase the specific growth rate of C. scottii and S. cerevisiae. The authors discuss a hypothesis for the formation of intermediate products in the substrate oxidation in the course of pulse aeration by the yeasts during the aerobic stage and the utilization of the products at the anaerobic stage of cyclic regimes. The paper describes a mathematical model for the yeast growth under the nonsteady-state conditions of pH and pO2, which accounts for the formation and utilization of possible intermediate biosynthetic products within the studied time intervals.