Fermentation Characteristics of Mortierella alpina in Response to Different Nitrogen Sources

Potential of Mortierellaceae for polyunsaturated fatty acids production: mini review

The health benefits of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have encouraged the search for rich sources of these compounds. However, the supply chain of PUFAs from animals and plants presents environmental concerns, such as water pollution, deforestation, animal exploitation and interference in the trophic chain. In this way, a viable alternative has been found in microbial sources, mainly in single cell oil (SCO) production by yeast and filamentous fungi. Mortierellaceae is a filamentous fungal family world-renowned for PUFA-producing strains. For example, Mortierella alpina can be highlighted due to be industrially applied to produce arachidonic acid (20:4 n6), an important component of infant supplement formulas. Thus, the state of the art of strategies to increase PUFAs production by Mortierellaceae strains is presented in this review. Firstly, we have discussed main phylogenetic and biochemical characteristics of these strains for lipid production. Next, strategies based on physiological manipulation, using different carbon and nitrogen sources, temperature, pH and cultivation methods, which can increase PUFA production by optimizing process parameters are presented. Furthermore, it is possible to use metabolic engineering tools, controlling the supply of NADPH and co-factors, and directing the activity of desaturases and elongase to the target PUFA. Thus, this review aims to discuss the functionality and applicability of each of these strategies, in order to support future research for PUFA production by Mortierellaceae species.

Current advances for omics-guided process optimization of microbial manufacturing

Currently, microbial manufacturing is widely used in various fields, such as food, medicine and energy, for its advantages of greenness and sustainable development. Process optimization is the committed step enabling the commercialization of microbial manufacturing products. However, the present optimization processes mainly rely on experience or trial-and-error method ignoring the intrinsic connection between cellular physiological requirement and production performance, so in many cases the productivity of microbial manufacturing could not been fully exploited at economically feasible cost. Recently, the rapid development of omics technologies facilitates the comprehensive analysis of microbial metabolism and fermentation performance from multi-levels of molecules, cells and microenvironment. The use of omics technologies makes the process optimization more explicit, boosting microbial manufacturing performance and bringing significant economic benefits and social value. In this paper, the traditional and omics technologies-guided process optimization of microbial manufacturing are systematically reviewed, and the future trend of process optimization is prospected.

Evaluation of Different Standard Amino Acids to Enhance the Biomass, Lipid, Fatty Acid, and γ-Linolenic Acid Production in Rhizomucor pusillus and Mucor circinelloides

In this study, 18 standard amino acids were tested as a single nitrogen source on biomass, total lipid, total fatty acid (TFA) production, and yield of γ-linolenic acid (GLA) in Rhizomucor pusillus AUMC 11616.A and Mucor circinelloides AUMC 6696.A isolated from unusual habitats. Grown for 4 days at 28°C, shaking at 150 rpm, the maximum fungal biomass for AUMC 6696.A was 14.6 ± 0.2 g/L with arginine and 13.68 ± 0.1 g/L with asparagine, when these amino acids were used as single nitrogen sources, while AUMC 11616.A maximum biomass was 10.73 ± 0.8 g/L with glycine and 9.44 ± 0.6 g/L with valine. These were significantly higher than the ammonium nitrate control (p < 0.05). The highest levels of TFA were achieved with glycine for AUMC 11616.A, 26.2 ± 0.8% w/w of cell dry weight, and glutamic acid for AUMC 6696.A, 23.1 ± 1.3%. The highest GLA yield was seen with proline for AUMC 11616.A, 13.4 ± 0.6% w/w of TFA, and tryptophan for AUMC 6696.A, 12.8 ± 0.3%, which were 38% and 25% higher than the ammonium tartrate control. The effects of environmental factors such as temperature, pH, fermentation time, and agitation speed on biomass, total lipids, TFA, and GLA concentration of the target strains have also been investigated. Our results demonstrated that nitrogen assimilation through amino acid metabolism, as well as the use of glucose as a carbon source and abiotic factors, are integral to increasing the oleaginicity of tested strains. Few studies have addressed the role of amino acids in fermentation media, and this study sheds light on R. pusillus and M. circinelloides as promising candidates for the potential applications of amino acids as nitrogen sources in the production of lipids.

Corn Steep Liquor: Green Biological Resources for Bioindustry

Corn steep liquor (CSL) is a by-product of the wet milling process and contains mostly crude proteins, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, reducing sugars, organic acids, enzymes and other nutrients. The concentration of organic matter in the CSL is high and the yield is large. If directly discharged into the integrated wastewater treatment system, the load and cost of wastewater treatment will be greatly increased. On the other hand, most of the organic matter in the CSL is a valuable resource that can be reused and recovered, and has a significant resource potential. How to develop and utilize CSL has become a major problem faced by enterprises and society. In recent years, people have done a lot of research on the comprehensive utilization of CSL. CSL is commonly used as an inexpensive source of nitrogen, carbon or vitamins in the production of glutamate, antibiotics, lactic acid and other biotechnologies. This article reviews the active ingredients of CSL and their analytical methods, as well as its use for microbial culture medium, low-cost animal feed, biosurfactant, and biostimulant.

Microcultivation and FTIR spectroscopy-based screening revealed a nutrient-induced co-production of high-value metabolites in oleaginous Mucoromycota fungi

Mucoromycota fungi possess a versatile metabolism and can utilize various substrates for production of industrially important products, such as lipids, chitin/chitosan, polyphosphates, pigments, alcohols and organic acids. However, as far as commercialisation is concerned, establishing industrial biotechnological processes based on Mucoromycota fungi is still challenging due to the high production costs compared to the final product value. Therefore, the development of co-production concept is highly desired since more than one valuable product could be produced at the time and the process has a potentially higher viability. To develop such biotechnological strategy, we applied a high throughput approach consisting of micro-titre cultivation and FTIR spectroscopy. This approach allows single-step biochemical fingerprinting of either fungal biomass or growth media without tedious extraction of metabolites. The influence of two types of nitrogen sources and different levels of inorganic phosphorus on the co-production of lipids, chitin/chitosan and polyphosphates for nine different oleaginous Mucoromycota fungi was evaluated. FTIR analysis of biochemical composition of Mucoromycota fungi and biomass yield showed that variation in inorganic phosphorus had higher effect when inorganic nitrogen source-ammonium sulphate-was used. It was observed that: (1) Umbelopsis vinacea reached almost double biomass yield compared to other strains when yeast extract was used as nitrogen source while phosphorus limitation had little effect on the biomass yield; (2) Mucor circinelloides, Rhizopus stolonifer, Amylomyces rouxii, Absidia glauca and Lichtheimia corymbifera overproduced chitin/chitosan under the low pH caused by the limitation of inorganic phosphorus; (3) Mucor circinelloides, Amylomyces rouxii, Rhizopus stolonifer and Absidia glauca were able to store polyphosphates in addition to lipids when high concentration of inorganic phosphorus was used; (4) the biomass and lipid yield of high-value lipid producers Mortierella alpina and Mortierella hyalina were significantly increased when high concentrations of inorganic phosphorus were combined with ammonium sulphate, while the same amount of inorganic phosphorus combined with yeast extract showed negative impact on the growth and lipid accumulation. FTIR spectroscopy revealed the co-production potential of several oleaginous Mucoromycota fungi forming lipids, chitin/chitosan and polyphosphates in a single cultivation process.

Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Q Exactive Orbitrap/Mass Spectrometry-Based Lipidomics Reveals the Influence of Nitrogen Sources on Lipid Biosynthesis of Mortierella alpina

The objective of the present study was to reveal the effects of four types of nitrogen sources (soymeal, yeast extract, KNO₃, and ammonium tartrate) on the lipid metabolism of the oleaginous fungus Mortierella alpina using untargeted lipidomics, targeted fatty acid, and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis. Our results showed clear differences in the contents and compositions of lipids between four types of nitrogen sources. Soymeal and ammonium tartrate supplementation favored the accumulation of triglycerides with arachidonic acid (ARA) and C_16-18 fatty acids, respectively. These results were further validated by our targeted fatty acid analysis. RT-qPCR analysis of related genes in M. alpina between the four nitrogen source conditions found that soymeal supplementation dramatically increased the expression of GPAT, ELOVL, and Δ12/Δ6 desaturase. Our findings provided new insights into the regulation of lipid biosynthesis in M. alpina and potential avenues for genetic manipulation and highlighted the importance of an optimal nitrogen source for ARA-rich oil production.

Efficiently activated ε-poly-L-lysine production by multiple antibiotic-resistance mutations and acidic pH shock optimization in Streptomyces albulus

ε‐Poly‐L‐lysine (ε‐PL) is a food additive produced by Streptomyces and is widely used in many countries. Working with Streptomyces albulus FEEL‐1, we established a method to activate ε‐PL synthesis by successive introduction of multiple antibiotic‐resistance mutations. Sextuple mutant R6 was finally developed by screening for resistance to six antibiotics and produced 4.41 g/L of ε‐PL in a shake flask, which is 2.75‐fold higher than the level produced by the parent strain. In a previous study, we constructed a double‐resistance mutant, SG‐31, with high ε‐PL production of 3.83 g/L and 59.50 g/L in a shake flask and 5‐L bioreactor, respectively. However, we found that R6 did not show obvious advantages in fed‐batch fermentation when compared with SG‐31. For further activation of ε‐PL synthesis ability, we optimized the fermentation process by using an effective acidic pH shock strategy, by which R6 synthetized 70.3 g/L of ε‐PL, 2.79‐fold and 1.18‐fold greater than that synthetized by FEEL‐1 and SG‐31, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest reported ε‐PL production to date. This ε‐PL overproduction may be due to the result of R99P and Q856H mutations in ribosomal protein S12 and RNA polymerase, respectively, which may be responsible for the increased transcription of the ε‐poly‐lysine synthetase gene (pls) and key enzyme activities in the Lys synthesis metabolic pathway. Consequently, ε‐PL synthetase activity, intracellular ATP, and Lys concentrations were improved and directly contributed to ε‐PL overproduction. This study combined ribosome engineering, high‐throughput screening, and targeted strategy optimization to accelerate ε‐PL production and probe the fermentation characteristics of hyperyield mutants. The information presented here may be useful for other natural products produced by Streptomyces.

Characterization of an Omega-3 Desaturase From Phytophthora parasitica and Application for Eicosapentaenoic Acid Production in Mortierella alpina

Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) have important therapeutic and nutritional benefits in humans. In the biosynthesis pathways of these LC-PUFAs, omega-3 desaturase plays a critical role. In this study, we report a new omega-3 desaturase (PPD17) from Phytophthora parasitica. This desaturase shares high similarities with the known omega-3 desaturases and was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the activity and substrate specificity research. The desaturase has a wide omega-6 fatty acid substrate, containing both 18C and 20C fatty acids, and exhibits a strong activity of delta-17 desaturase but a weak activity of delta-15 desaturase. The new desaturase converted the omega-6 arachidonic acid (AA, C20:4) to EPA (an omega-3 LC-PUFA, C20:5) with a substrate conversion rate of 70%. To obtain a high EPA-producing strain, we transformed PPD17 into Mortierella alpina, an AA-producing filamentous fungus. The EPA content of the total fatty acids in reconstruction strains reached 31.5% and was followed by the fermentation optimization of the EPA yield of up to 1.9 g/L. This research characterized a new omega-3 desaturase and provides a possibility of industrially producing EPA using M. alpina.

An Online Respiratory Quotient-Feedback Strategy of Feeding Yeast Extract for Efficient Arachidonic Acid Production by Mortierella alpina

Mortierella alpina (M. alpina) is well known for arachidonic acid (ARA) production. However, low efficiency and unstableness are long existed problems for industrial production of ARA by M. alpina due to the lack of online regulations. The aim of the present work is to develop an online-regulation strategy for efficient and stable ARA production in industry. The strategy was developed in 50 L fermenters and then applied in a 200 m3 fermenter. Results indicated that yeast extract (YE) highly increased cell growth in shake flask, it was then used in bioreactor fermentation by various feeding strategies. Feeding YE to control respiratory quotient (RQ) at 1.1 during 0-48 h and at 1.5 during 48-160 h, dry cell weight, and ARA titer reached 53.1 and 11.49 g/L in 50 L fermenter, which were increased by 79.4 and 36.9% as compared to that without YE feeding, respectively. Then, the online RQ-feedback strategy was applied in 200 m3 bioreactor fermentation and an average ARA titer of 16.82 g/L was obtained from 12 batches, which was 41.0% higher than the control batches. This is the first report on successful application of online RQ-feedback control of YE in ARA production, especially in an industrial scale of 200 m3 fermentation. It could be applied to other industrial production of microbial oil by oleaginous microorganisms.

An efficient multi-stage fermentation strategy for the production of microbial oil rich in arachidonic acid in Mortierella alpina

BACKGROUND

Fungal morphology and aeration play a significant role in the growth process of Mortierella alpina. The production of microbial oil rich in arachidonic acid (ARA) in M. alpina was enhanced by using a multi-stage fermentation strategy which combined fed-batch culture with precise control of aeration and agitation rates at proper times.

RESULTS

The fermentation period was divided into four stages according to the cultivation characteristics of M. alpina. The dissolved oxygen concentration was well suited for ARA biosynthesis. Moreover, the ultimate dry cell weight (DCW), lipid, and ARA yields obtained using this strategy reached 41.4, 22.2, 13.5 g/L, respectively. The respective values represent 14.8, 25.8, and 7.8% improvements over traditional fed-batch fermentation processes.

CONCLUSIONS

This strategy provides promising control insights for the mass production of ARA-rich oil on an industrial scale. Pellet-like fungal morphology was transformed into rice-shaped particles which were beneficial for oxygen transfer and thus highly suitable for biomass accumulation.

Enhanced polyunsaturated fatty acids production in Mortierella alpina by SSF and the enrichment in chicken breasts

BACKGROUND

Distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and soybean meal were used as the substrates for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in solid-state fermentation (SSF) by Mortierella alpine. These fermented products were fed to laying hens. PUFA enrichment from chicken breasts was studied.

METHODS

The maximum productivity of PUFA was achieved under optimized process condition, including 1% w/w yeast extract as additive, an incubation period of 5 days at 12°C, 10% v/w inoculum level, 75% moisture content, and pH 6.0. The hens were then fed with ration containing soybean DDGS, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, and peanut oil. The control group was fed with basal ration.

RESULTS

Under the optimal condition, M. alpine produced total fatty acids (TFA) of 182.34 mg/g dry substrate. It has better mycelial growth when soybean meal was added to DDGS (SDDGS). PUFA in fermentation product increased with higher soybean meal content. The addition of 70% soybean meal to DDGS substrate yielded 175.16 mg of TFA, including 2.49 mg eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 5.26 mg docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The ratios of ω-6/ω-3 found in chicken breasts fat were all lower than that found in control by 36.98, 31.51, 18.15, and 12.63% for SDDGS, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, and peanut oil, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified an optimized SSF process to maximize PUFA productivity by M. alpine as the strain. This PUFA-enriched feed increased the PUFA contents as well as the proportions of ω-6 and ω-3 in chicken breasts and liver.

Efficient production of arachidonic acid by Mortierella alpina through integrating fed-batch culture with a two-stage pH control strategy

Arachidonic acid (ARA) yield and productivity of Mortierella alpina mutant D20 were enhanced by integrating a fed-batch culture combined with a two-stage pH control strategy. Following a kinetic analysis of the whole fermentation process, a two-stage pH control strategy was developed in which the pH was maintained at 5.5 for the first 48 h and then shifted to 6.5 till the end of fermentation. Using this strategy, a maximum ARA production of 8.12 g/L was achieved. On the basis of pH control, the effects of fed-batch cultures on ARA productivity were further investigated. A maximum ARA productivity of 1.40 g/L/d was obtained with a two-stage constant-speed glucose feeding strategy, starting with a glucose concentration of 50 g/L. This strategy was simple and economical to operate, and it may be possible to apply this approach for large-scale industrial production of ARA.

Quantitative assessment of the degree of lipid unsaturation in intact Mortierella by Raman microspectroscopy

Fungi of the genus Mortierella can accumulate large amounts of unusual lipids depending on species, strain, and growth conditions. Fast and easy determination of key parameters of lipid quality for these samples is required. In this contribution, we apply Raman microspectroscopy to determine the degree of unsaturation for fungal lipids directly inside intact hyphae without elaborate sample handling. Six Mortierella species were grown under varying conditions, and Raman spectra of single lipid vesicles were acquired. From the spectra, we calculate a peak intensity ratio I(1270 cm(-1))/I(1445 cm(-1)) from the signals of =CH and -CH2/-CH3 groups, respectively. This ratio is linked to the iodine value (IV) using spectra of reference compounds with known IV. IVs of fungal samples are compared to gas chromatography results. Values from both methods are in good accordance. Lipid composition is found to vary between the investigated species, with Mortierella alpina having the most unsaturated lipid (IV up to 280) and Mortierella exigua the least unsaturated (IV as low as 70). We find Raman microspectroscopy a suitable tool to determine the IV reliably, fast, and easily inside intact hyphae without extensive sample handling or treatment. The method can also be transferred to other microscopic samples.

Enhanced arachidonic acid production from Mortierella alpina combining atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) and diethyl sulfate treatments

To obtain mutant strains with higher arachidonic acid (ARA) yields, the oleaginous fungus Mortierella alpina was mutated using atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) coupled with diethyl sulfate (DES). A visual compound filter operation was used in which a screening medium was supplemented with cerulenin, an inhibitor of fatty acid synthase (FAS), and triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC). The mutant strain D20 with an ARA production of 5.09 g/L, a 40.61% increase over the original strain (3.62 g/L), was isolated. The relative ARA content increased from 38.99% to 45.64% of total fatty acids. After optimizing fermentation conditions, the maximum ARA yield (6.82 g/L) for strain D20 was obtained in shake flasks. This work provides an appropriate strategy for obtaining high ARA-yield strains by conventional random mutation methods with an efficient screening assay.

Reconstruction and analysis of a genome-scale metabolic model of the oleaginous fungus Mortierella alpina

Background

Mortierella alpina is an oleaginous fungus used in the industrial scale production of arachidonic acid (ARA). In order to investigate the metabolic characteristics at a systems level and to explore potential strategies for enhanced lipid production, a genome-scale metabolic model of M. alpina was reconstructed.

Results

This model included 1106 genes, 1854 reactions and 1732 metabolites. On minimal growth medium, 86 genes were identified as essential, whereas 49 essential genes were identified on yeast extract medium. A series of sequential desaturase and elongase catalysed steps are involved in the synthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from acetyl-CoA precursors, with concomitant NADPH consumption, and these steps were investigated in this study. Oxygen is known to affect the degree of unsaturation of PUFAs, and robustness analysis determined that an oxygen uptake rate of 2.0 mmol gDW⁻¹ h⁻¹ was optimal for ARA accumulation. The flux of 53 reactions involving NADPH was significantly altered at different ARA levels. Of these, malic enzyme (ME) was confirmed as a key component in ARA production and NADPH generation. When using minimization of metabolic adjustment, a knock-out of ME led to a 38.28% decrease in ARA production.

Conclusions

The simulation results confirmed the model as a useful tool for future research on the metabolism of PUFAs.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12918-014-0137-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effects of 20 standard amino acids on the growth, total fatty acids production, and γ-linolenic acid yield in Mucor circinelloides

Twenty standard amino acids were examined as single nitrogen source on the growth, total fatty acids production, and yield of γ-linolenic acid (GLA) in Mucor circinelloides. Of the amino acids, tyrosine gave the highest biomass and lipid accumulation and thus resulted in a high GLA yield with respective values of 17.8 g/L, 23 % (w/w, dry cell weight, DCW), and 0.81 g/L, which were 36, 25, and 72 % higher than when the fungus was grown with ammonium tartrate. To find out the potential mechanism underlying the increased lipid accumulation of M. circinelloides when grown on tyrosine, the activity of lipogenic enzymes of the fungus during lipid accumulation phase was measured. The enzyme activities of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, and ATP-citrate lyase were up-regulated, while NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase was down-regulated by tyrosine during the lipid accumulation phase of the fungus which suggested that these enzymes may be involved in the increased lipid biosynthesis by tyrosine in this fungus.

Regulation of docosahexaenoic acid production by Schizochytrium sp.: effect of nitrogen addition

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) percentage in total fatty acids (TFAs) is an important index in DHA microbial production. In this study, the change of DHA percentage in response to fermentation stages and the strategies to increase DHA percentage were investigated. Two kinds of conventional nitrogen sources, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and ammonium sulfate (AS), were tested to regulate DHA synthesis. Results showed that MSG addition could accelerate the substrate consumption rate but inhibit lipid accumulation, while AS addition could increase DHA percentage in TFAs effectively but extend fermentation period slightly. Finally, the AS addition strategy was successfully applied in 7,000-L fermentor and DHA percentage in TFAs and DHA yield reached 46.06 % and 18.48 g/L, which was 19.54 and 17.41 % higher than that of no-addition strategy. This would provide guidance for the large-scale production of the other similar polyunsaturated fatty acid, and give insight into the nitrogen metabolism in oil-producing microorganisms.

Fungal arachidonic acid-rich oil: research, development and industrialization

Fungal arachidonic acid (ARA)-rich oil is an important microbial oil that affects diverse physiological processes that impact normal health and chronic disease. In this article, the historic developments and technological achievements in fungal ARA-rich oil production in the past several years are reviewed. The biochemistry of ARA, ARA-rich oil synthesis and the accumulation mechanism are first introduced. Subsequently, the fermentation and downstream technologies are summarized. Furthermore, progress in the industrial production of ARA-rich oil is discussed. Finally, guidelines for future studies of fungal ARA-rich oil production are proposed in light of the current progress, challenges and trends in the field.

Development of a defined medium for arachidonic acid production by Mortierella alpina using a visualization method

Defined medium for arachidonic acid (ARA) production by Mortierella alpina was optimized for its metabolomics study. For this purpose, a visualization method (VM) was applied for the first time. Experiments were designed according to the uniform design with four factors (concentrations of glucose, NaNO(3), KH(2)PO(4) and MgSO(4)·7H(2)O) for each at nine levels. Dry cell weight (DCW), ARA yield in DCW [percent (w/w)] and ARA content in total fatty acids [percent (w/w)] were considered as the three objectives. Optimization of single-objective function and multi-objective function of two objectives and three objectives was attempted. Optimal DCW, ARA yield and ARA content were predicted to occur in a medium that contained (grams per litre): glucose 35, NaNO(3) 1, KH(2)PO(4) 7.5 and MgSO(4)·7H(2)O 2.6. Upon verification, the average tested DCW (12.95 g/l), ARA yield (18.89 %) and ARA content (42.36 %) were fairly close to the predicted values (12.88 g/l, 9.68 % and 35.57 %, respectively). Moreover, DCW, ARA yield and ARA content from the optimum medium increased by 35.68, 47.23 and 30.90 % compared with control, respectively, indicating that VM had succeeded in exploiting the biomass growth and ARA production by M. alpina.

Spatially resolved investigation of the oil composition in single intact hyphae of Mortierella spp. with micro-Raman spectroscopy

Zygomycetes are well known for their ability to produce various secondary metabolites. Fungi of the genus Mortierella can accumulate highly unsaturated lipids in large amounts as lipid droplets. However, no information about the spatial distribution or homogeneity of the oil inside the fungi is obtainable to date due to the invasive and destructive analytical techniques applied so far. Raman spectroscopy has been demonstrated to be well suited to investigate biological samples on a micrometre scale. It also has been shown that the degree of unsaturation of lipids can be determined from Raman spectra. We applied micro-Raman spectroscopy to investigate the spatial distribution and composition of lipid vesicles inside intact hyphae. For Mortierella alpina and Mortierella elongata distinct differences in the degree of unsaturation and even the impact of growth conditions are determined from the Raman spectra. In both species we found that the fatty acid saturation in the vesicles is highly variable in the first 600 μm of the growing hyphal tip and fluctuates towards a constant composition and saturation ratio in all of the remaining mycelium. Our approach facilitates in vivo monitoring of the lipid production and allows us to investigate the impact of cultivation parameters on the oil composition directly in the growing hyphae without the need for extensive extraction procedures.

Determination of main categories of components in corn steep liquor by near-infrared spectroscopy and partial least-squares regression

Corn steep liquor (CSL) is an important raw material that has a high nutritional value and serves as a nitrogen source. This study aimed to develop a fast, versatile, cheap, and environmentally safe analytical method of quantifying the total acidity (TA) of CSL as well as its contents of dry matter (DM), total sugars (TS), total reducing sugars (TRS), total free amino acids (TFAA), total nitrogen (TN), and total sulfite (TSu). The near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy measurements of 66 samples (22 batches) of CSL were analyzed by partial least-squares regression using several spectral preprocessing methods. Multivariate models developed in the NIR area showed good predictive abilities for DM, TA, TS, TRS, TFAA, TN, and TSu determination. These results confirm the feasibility of the multivariate spectroscopic approach as a replacement for expensive and time-consuming conventional chemical methods. Thus, a convenient and feasible method for the quality control of fermentation raw materials for food additives and fine chemicals, especially in CSL, is established.

Improving arachidonic acid accumulation in Mortierella alpina through B-group vitamin addition

To improve the arachidonic acid (ARA) accumulation in Mortierella alpina, a mixed B-group vitamin addition strategy was developed. The ARA titer reached up to 10.0 g/L, 1.7-fold of the control. At the same time, the highest specific activities of key enzymes involved in ARA biosynthesis, including malic enzyme, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and ATP: citrate lyase, were 63.3, 38.6 and 53.7% higher than the control, respectively. The possible vitamin triggered improved ARA accumulation mechanism was thus elucidated that B-group vitamins could function as the cofactors of the key enzymes involved in ARA biosynthesis, or precursors for the formation of NADPH and acetyl-CoA which were crucial for ARA synthesis, and strengthened the related metabolic flux.