A method for the stabilisation of recombinant plasmids in yeast.

The stability of a yeast plasmid can be improved using deliberately induced cyclic changes in the dissolved oxygen tension (DOT), during continuous culture in a non-selective, undefined medium. The resultant stability of the plasmid under DOT cycled conditions is strongly dependent on the growth rate of the culture, with complete stabilisation at lower growth rates. We propose a mechanism for the stabilisation and suggest that the method can be applied to other recombinant yeast strains.

Growth kinetics of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in batch and fed-batch cultivation using sugarcane molasses and glucose syrup from cassava starch.

Growth kinetics of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in glucose syrup from cassava starch and sugarcane molasses were studied using batch and fed-batch cultivation. The optimum temperature and pH required for growth were 30 degrees C and pH 5.5, respectively. In batch culture the productivity and overall cell yield were 0.31 g L-1 h-1 and 0.23 g cells g-1 sugar, respectively, on glucose syrup and 0.22 g L-1 h-1 and 0.18 g cells g-1 sugar, respectively, on molasses. In fed-batch cultivation, a productivity of 3.12 g L-1 h-1 and an overall cell yield of 0.52 g cells g-1 sugar were achieved in glucose syrup cultivation and a productivity of 2.33 g L-1 h-1 and an overall cell yield of 0.46 g cells g-1 sugar were achieved in molasses cultivation by controlling the reducing sugar concentration at its optimum level obtained from the fermentation model. By using an on-line ethanol sensor combined with a porous Teflon tubing method in automating the feeding of substrate in the fed-batch culture, a productivity of 2.15 g L-1 h-1 with a yield of 0.47 g cells g-1 sugar was achieved using glucose syrup as substrate when ethanol concentration was kept at a constant level by automatic control.

Isolation of Alkaline and Neutral Proteases from Aspergillus flavus var. columnaris, a Soy Sauce Koji Mold.

Two different extracellular proteases, protease I (P-I), an alkaline protease, and protease II (P-II) a neutral protease, from Aspergillus flavus var. columnaris were partially purified by using (NH(4))(2)SO(4) precipitation, diethylaminoethyl-Sephadex A-50 chromatography, carboxymethylcellulose CM-52 chromatography, and Sephadex G-100 gel filtration. The degree of purity was followed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The activity of P-I was completely inhibited by 0.1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, and that of P-II was completely inhibited by 1 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetate. By using these inhibitors with extracts of wheat bran koji, the proportions of total activity that could be assigned to P-I and P-II were 80 and 20%, respectively. This compared favorably with activities estimated by using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis slices (82 and 18%, respectively). Extracts from factory-run soybean koji gave comparable results. Both enzymes demonstrated maximum activity at 50 to 55 degrees C and only small changes in activity between pH 6 and 11. For P-I, activity was somewhat higher from pH 8.0 to 11.0, whereas for P-II it was somewhat higher from pH 6 to 9. In the presence of 18% NaCl, the activities of both P-I and P-II dropped by approximately 90 and 85%, respectively. P-I was inferred to possess aminopeptidase activity since it could hydrolyze l-leucyl-p-nitroanilide hydrochloride. P-II was devoid of such activity. The ramifications of the results for factory-produced soy sauce koji are discussed.