Conversion of cassava starch to biomass, carbohydrates, and acids by Aspergillus niger.

The filamentous fungus, Aspergillus niger, efficiently converted cassava polysaccharides to mycelial mass, simple sugars, and acids during the course of its growth. A typical 70-ml culture broth containing 2% cassava polysaccharides yielded 0.38 g dry mycelial mass, 1.14 mmol reducing sugars, and 1.17 meq acids at the end of 42 h. About 70% of the initial total carbohydrate in the medium was degraded during the same period. The sugars and acids in the culture broths were analyzed by HPLC on a single Aminex HPX-87 column at 55 degrees C, using 0.013 N H2SO4 as the eluting solvent. Cassava polysaccharides were degraded to oligosaccharides, maltotriose, maltose, and glucose beyond the 20-h growth periods, with maltotriose emerging as the major simple sugar. The appearance of citric, malic, gluconic, succinic, and fumaric acids accounted mostly for the decreasing pH in the growth media. Formation of carbohydrate species in the culture broths was closely related to the biosynthesis and secretion of several carbohydrases by A. niger. The extracellular carbohydrases were separated and identified by chromatofocusing and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to be amyloglucosidase (EC 3.1.2.3), alpha-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1), and alpha-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.20), respectively.