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Use of confocal scanning laser microscopy to measure the concentrations of aerial and penetrative hyphae during growth of Rhizopus oligosporus on a solid surface
Author(s) -
Nopharatana Montira,
Mitchell David A.,
Howes Tony
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.10752
Subject(s) - rhizopus oligosporus , hypha , biomass (ecology) , solid state fermentation , botany , substrate (aquarium) , confocal laser scanning microscopy , chemistry , biology , fermentation , food science , biophysics , agronomy , ecology
In order to develop a method for use in investigations of spatial biomass distribution in solid‐state fermentation systems, confocal scanning laser microscopy was used to determine the concentrations of aerial and penetrative biomass against height and depth above and below the substrate surface, during growth of Rhizopus oligosporus on potato dextrose agar. Penetrative hyphae had penetrated to a depth of 0.445 cm by 64 h and showed rhizoid morphology, in which the maximum biomass concentration, of 4.45 mg dry wt cm −3 , occurred at a depth of 0.075 cm. For aerial biomass the maximum density of 39.54 mg dry wt −3 occurred at the substrate surface. For both aerial and penetrative biomass, there were two distinct regions in which the biomass concentration decayed exponentially with distance from the surface. For aerial biomass, the first exponential decay region was up to 0.1 cm height. The second region above the height of 0.1 cm corresponded to that in which sporangiophores dominated. This work lays the foundation for deeper studies into what controls the growth of fungal hyphae above and below the surfaces of solid substrates. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 84: 71–77, 2003.