Open AccessMicrobial competition in bioreactors
Author(s) -
Stavros Pavlou
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
chemical industry and chemical engineering quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.189
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2217-7434
pISSN - 1451-9372
DOI - 10.2298/ciceq0601071p
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , microorganism , bioreactor , nutrient , biology , biochemical engineering , environmental science , ecology , bacteria , botany , engineering , genetics
Competition for nutrients and other resources is an interaction common among microbial species growing together in the same environment. Such an environment can be created in the laboratory in a bioreactor in order to study this type of interaction and its effect on the microorganisms. Competition tends to eliminate species from the system. The main question then is whether the competing microbial species can coexist and under what conditions. The number of nutrients for which the microorganisms compete plays an important role, while periodic oscillations and spatial heterogeneity have a favorable effect on coexistence.