Monday, August 11, 2008
P36

Rational screening of high-yielding mutants of itaconic acid produced by Aspergillus terreus and statistical optimization of production medium

Woo-Shik Shin1, Yong-Seob Jeong2, Chulhwan Park3, Dohoon Lee4, Sangyong Kim4, and Gie-Taek Chun1. (1) School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Kangwon National University, Hyoja 2-dong, Chunchon 200-701, South Korea, (2) Faculty of Biotechnology, Chonbuk National University, Deokjin-dong, Jeonju 561-756, South Korea, (3) Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, 447-1, Wolgye-Dong, Nowon-Gu, Seoul, South Korea, (4) Environment and Energy, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 35-3, Hongcheon-Ri, Ipchang-Myun, Cheonan, 330-825, South Korea

Rational screening strategies were applied for the development of high yielding mutants of itaconic acid produced by Aspergillus terreus, a dicarbonic organic acid used in the manufacture of various synthetic resins. Furthermore, for large and mass screening of overproducing mutants of itaconic acid, miniaturized fermentation methods were developed using 12-well micorplates for both growth and production cultures. It was found that the producers' morphology should be dense filamentous forms in the growth stage for higher production of itaconic acid. Under these growth conditions, a compact-pelleted morphology of optimum size(less than 0.5mm in diameter) was successfully induced in the microplate production cultures, resulting in maximal utilization of the overproducers' fermentation physiology. In addition, production medium optimization was carried out using powerful statistical methods such as fractional factorial design(FFD), steepest ascent method(SAM) followed by response surface method(RSM). It was concluded that not only the good morphology of the high producers but also the optimized production medium was responsible for the significant increase in itaconic acid biosynthesis.

See more of Poster Session 2
See more of Posters

See more of The Annual Meeting and Exhibition 2008 (August 10 - 14, 2008)