Premium
Growth and gas production for hyperthermophilic archaebacterium, Pyrococcus furiosus
Author(s) -
Malik B.,
Su W.w.,
Wald H. L.,
Blumentals I. I.,
Kelly R. M.
Publication year - 1989
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.260340805
Subject(s) - pyrococcus furiosus , sulfur , hydrogen sulfide , hydrogen , chemistry , carbon fibers , hydrogen production , bacteria , substrate (aquarium) , carbon dioxide , food science , hydrogenase , biochemistry , archaea , organic chemistry , materials science , biology , ecology , genetics , composite number , composite material , gene
Pyrococcus furiosus represents one of the most important hyperthermophilic bacteria isolated thus far because of its relatively high cell yields and rapid growth rates. Pyrococcus furiosus exhibits several interesting growth characteristics, especially in terms of biotic gas production, which were examined in this study. In the presence of elemental sulfur, both carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide production appeared to be strongly growth associated, while no significant hydrogen production was observed. In the absence of sulfur, hydrogen and carbon dioxide were produced by the organism and hydrogen inhibition was observed. The addition of elemental sulfur to the medium apparently eliminated, hydrogen inhibition as growth proceeded normally even when hydrogen was added to the gas phase. Also, no apparent substrate limitation or toxic product could be attributed to the cessation of growth as cell growth in spent media was at least as good as in fresh media. An unstructured growth model was used to correlate growth and gas production for P. furiosus in complex seawater‐based media at 98° C both in the absence and presence of elemental sulfur. The model was shown to be useful for examining some of the observations made in this study.