Linear correlation between online capacitance and offline biomass measurement up to high cell densities in Escherichia coli fermentations in a pilot-scale pressurized bioreactor.

To yield high concentrations of protein expressed by genetically modified Escherichia coli, it is important that the bacterial strains are cultivated to high cell density in industrial bioprocesses. Since the expressed target protein is mostly accumulated inside the E. coli cells, the cellular product formation can be directly correlated to the bacterial biomass concentration. The typical way to determine this concentration is to sample offline. Such manual sampling, however, wastes time and is not efficient for acquiring direct feedback to control a fedbatch fermentation. An E. coli K12-derived strain was cultivated to high cell density in a pressurized stirred bioreactor on a pilot scale, by detecting biomass concentration online using a capacitance probe. This E. coli strain was grown in pure minimal medium using two carbon sources (glucose and glycerol). By applying exponential feeding profiles corresponding to a constant specific growth rate, the E. coli culture grew under carbon-limited conditions to minimize overflow metabolites. A high linearity was found between capacitance and biomass concentration, whereby up to 85 g/L dry cell weight was measured. To validate the viability of the culture, the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) was determined online, yielding maximum values of 0.69 mol/l/h and 0.98 mol/l/h by using glucose and glycerol as carbon sources, respectively. Consequently, online monitoring of biomass using a capacitance probe provides direct and fast information about the viable E. coli biomass generated under aerobic fermentation conditions at elevated headspace pressures.

Online determination of viable biomass up to very high cell densities in Arxula adeninivorans fermentations using an impedance signal.

Up to now biomass has been measured online by impedance analysis only at low cell densities in yeast fermentations. As industrial fermentation processes focus, for example, on producing high target concentrations of biocatalysts or pharmaceutical proteins, it is important to investigate cell growth under high cell-density conditions. Therefore, for the first time, biomass has been measured online using impedance analysis in a 50L high-pressure stirred tank reactor. As model organism the yeast Arxula adeninivorans was cultivated in two chemically defined mineral media at a constant growth rate in fed-batch mode. To ensure aerobic culture conditions over the entire fermentation time, the fermentations were conducted at an elevated headspace overpressure of up to 9.5bar. The highest oxygen transfer rate value of 0.56molL(-1)h(-1) ever reported for yeast fermentations was measured in these investigations. Unlike previous findings, in this study a linear correlation was found between capacitance and biomass up to concentrations of 174gL(-1) dry cell weight.

High cell-density processes in batch mode of a genetically engineered Escherichia coli strain with minimized overflow metabolism using a pressurized bioreactor.

A common method to minimize overflow metabolism and to enable high cell-density is to operate microbial processes in fed-batch mode under carbon-limiting conditions. This requires sophisticated process control schemes with expensive hardware equipment and software and well-characterized processes parameters. To generate high-cell density, a more simplified strategy would be beneficial. Therefore, a genetically engineered Escherichia coli strain with a modified glucose uptake system was cultivated in batch mode. In the applied strain, the usual phosphotransferase system of a K12-derived strain was inactivated, while the galactose permease system was amplified. Upon cultivating this E. coli strain in pure minimal media, the acetate concentration did not exceed values of 0.35 g L(-1), even when the batch fermentation was started with a glucose concentration of 130 g L(-1). Finally, maximum biomass concentrations of 48 g L(-1) dry cell weight and maximum space-time yields of 2.10 g L(-1) h(-1) were reached. To provide an unlimited growth under fully aerobic conditions (DOT>30%) at comparatively low values for specific power input (3-4 kW m(-3)), a pressurized bioreactor was used. Consequentially, to our knowledge, this study using a bioreactor with elevated headspace pressure generate the highest oxygen transfer rate (451 mmol L(-1) h(-1)) ever reached in batch cultivations.