Premium
Effect of the nitrogen source on caffeine degradation by Aspergillus tamarii
Author(s) -
GutiérrezSánchez G.,
Roussos S.,
Augur C.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1046/j.1472-765x.2003.01438.x
Subject(s) - library science , computer science
Aims: To evaluate caffeine degradation and nitrogen requirements during Aspergillus tamarii growth in submerged culture. Methods and Results: Aspergillus tamarii spores produced on a coffee infusion agar medium added with sucrose were used. Several caffeine and ammonium sulphate concentrations (0–1 and 0–1·36 g l −1 , respectively) were tested simultaneously on fungal biomass production and caffeine degradation. An additional caffeine pulse (4 g l −1 ) was added for all experiments after 48 h of fermentation. Results revealed that when using 0·90 g l −1 of caffeine and 0·14 g l −1 of ammonium sulphate, biomass production and caffeine degradation were enhanced. Highest biomass production ( X max = 9·87 g l −1 ) with a specific growth rate ( μ ) of 0·073 h −1 and caffeine degradation rate of 0·033 g l −1 h −1 , was observed under these conditions. Conclusions: Caffeine degradation as well as biomass production were characterized. Significance and Impact of the Study: These studies set the stage for future characterization studies of intracellular enzymes involved in caffeine degradation. Moreover, results observed may help in the biotreatment of residues from the coffee agroindustry.