A study on clavulanic acid production by Streptomyces clavuligerus in batch, fed-batch and continuous processes

• Autor(a) principal: Neto,A. B.
• Data de Publicação: 2005
• Outros Autores: Hirata,D. B., Cassiano Filho,L. C. M., Bellão,C., Badino Júnior,A. C., Hokka,C. O.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-66322005000400008
• topic: Clavulanic acid; Bioreactors; Enzymes

Clavulanic acid (CA) is a potent inhibitor of beta-lactamases, enzymes that are responsible for the hydrolysis of beta-lactam antibiotics. It is a secondary metabolite produced by the filamentous aerobic bacterium Streptomyces clavuligerus in submerged cultivations. In the present work clavulanic acid production in batch, fed-batch and continuous bioreactors was studied with the objective of increasing productivity. The operating conditions: temperature, aeration and agitation, were the same in all cases, 28º C, 0.5 vvm and 800 rpm, respectively. The CA concentration obtained in the fed-batch culture, 404 mg L-1, was ca twice the value obtained in the batch culture, 194 mg L-1, while 293 mg L-1 was obtained in the continuous culture. The highest productivity was obtained in the continuous cultivation, 10.6 mg L-1 h-1, as compared with 8.8 mg L-1 h-1 in the fed-batch process and 3.5 mg L-1 h-1 in the batch process, suggesting that continuous culture of Streptomyces clavuligerus is a promising strategy for clavulanic acid production.