Predicting Metabolic Adaptation Under Dynamic Substrate Conditions Using a Resource-Dependent Kinetic Model: A Case Study Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Exposed to changes in their environment, microorganisms will adapt their phenotype, including metabolism, to ensure survival. To understand the adaptation principles, resource allocation-based approaches were successfully applied to predict an optimal proteome allocation under (quasi) steady-state conditions. Nevertheless, for a general,...

Escherichia coli metabolism under short-Term repetitive substrate dynamics: Adaptation and trade-offs

Background: Microbial metabolism is highly dependent on the environmental conditions. Especially, the substrate concentration, as well as oxygen availability, determine the metabolic rates. In large-scale bioreactors, microorganisms encounter dynamic conditions in substrate and oxygen availability (mixing limitations), which influence their...

Simultaneous growth and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) accumulation in a Plasticicumulans acidivorans dominated enrichment culture

The wide variety of organic carbon to nitrogen and phosphorous ratios that are encountered in different wastewaters has a major impact on the poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) accumulation potential of microbial communities. In this study we investigated the influence of the substrate composition in terms of the carbon to nitrogen (C/N) or...

Scale-Up Aspects of PHA Production by Microbial Enrichment Cultures

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are microbial storage polymers accumulated by many different prokaryotes as an intracellular carbon and energy reserve. The polymer properties make PHA interesting as bioplastic. Moreover, the monomers could serve as chiral building blocks or be used as a biofuel.<br/>Currently, PHA is commercially produced using...

Lipid recovery from a vegetable oil emulsion using microbial enrichment cultures

Background Many waste streams have a relatively high vegetable oil content, which is a potential resource that should be recovered. Microbial storage compound production for the recovery of lipids from lipid-water emulsions with open (unsterilized) microbial cultures was investigated in a sequencing batch reactor using a diluted vegetable oil...

Fast “Feast/Famine” Cycles for Studying Microbial Physiology Under Dynamic Conditions: A Case Study with Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Microorganisms are constantly exposed to rapidly changing conditions, under natural as well as industrial production scale environments, especially due to large-scale substrate mixing limitations. In this work, we present an experimental approach based on a dynamic feast/famine regime (400 s) that leads to repetitive cycles with moderate changes...

PHA Production in Aerobic Mixed Microbial Cultures

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a common intracellular energy and carbon storage material in bacteria, which is considered as a bioplastic due to its plastic like properties. PHAs are versatile materials which are biodegradable and made from renewable resources. Commercial production of PHAs is currently based on pure culture processes employing...