RESUMO
The aerobic growth of Schizosaccharomyces pombe on mixtures of glucose and malate was investigated during continuous high cell density cultures with partial cell-recycle using a membrane bioreactor. Determination of the specific metabolic rates relative to substrates and products allowed the capacity of the yeast to metabolize malic acid under both oxidative metabolism (carbon limited cultures) and oxidofermentative metabolism (carbon sufficient cultures) situations to be characterized. Under carbon limiting conditions, the specific rate of malate utilization was dependent on the residual concentration and a limit for a purely oxidative breakdown without ethanol formation was observed for a characteristic ratio between the rates of substrate consumption qM/qG of 1.63 g.g-1. In addition, the mass balance analysis revealed the incorporation of malic acid into biomass. In carbon excess environments, the specific rate of malate utilization was dependent on both the residual malate and the specific rate of glucose consumption indicating that in addition to its conversion into ethanol malate can be respiratively metabolized for qM/qG ratios higher than 0.4 g.g-1.