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Novel method for cell immobilization and its application for production of organic acid
Author(s) -
Iqbal M.,
Saeed A.
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1111/j.1472-765x.2004.01646.x
Subject(s) - itaconic acid , aspergillus terreus , hypha , biomass (ecology) , chemistry , food science , microbiology and biotechnology , polymer , organic chemistry , biology , agronomy , copolymer
Aims: The aim was to develop a novel and simple technique for the entrapment of fungal hyphae. Methods and Results: A novel immobilization technique was developed by using a structural fibrous network (SFN) of papaya wood as an immobilizing matrix. The technique is simple and a stable entrapment was achieved simply by inoculating the Aspergillus terreus hyphae within culture medium containing SFN pieces for 3 days, without any prior chemical treatment. Results show that SFN has no detrimental effect both on growth and bioactivity of fungi. A 23·5% increase in the itaconic acid production by SFN‐immobilized A. terreus was noted when compared with free biomass. SFN‐immobilized fungal biomass retained 95% itaconic acid productivity for five repeated batch cycles, 7 days each, without any disintegration/release of hyphae in the production medium. Conclusions: This is the first report on the use of SFN, a structural material, as an immobilizing matrix for the entrapment of any kind of microbial biomass and its application in organic acid. Significance and Impact of the Study: The low cost of SFN and simplicity of the technique applied for immobilization of fungal hyphae within/onto SFN make its use ideal for the immobilization of fungal biomass to produce commercially valuable products.