AUTHOR=Song Ping , Yuan Kai , Ji Xiao-Jun , Ren Lu-Jing , Zhang Sen , Wen Jian-Ping , Huang He 

TITLE=Effects of Cotton Seed Powder as the Seed Medium Nitrogen Source on the Morphology and Pneumocandin B0 Yield of Glarea lozoyensis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02352

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.02352

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Pneumocandin B<sub>0</sub> is an important antifungal drug precursor produced by filamentous fungus <italic>Glarea lozoyensis</italic>. The high broth viscosity of cultures of this organism results in lower oxygen solubility and higher energy consumption for agitation and aeration, which mostly caused by the morphologies of filamentous fungi in submerged culture. In this study, the effects of different seed medium nitrogen sources on morphology and fermentation behavior of <italic>G. lozoyensis</italic> were investigated, and cotton seed powder resulted in small, compact pellets. Moreover, pneumocandin B<sub>0</sub> yield in Erlenmeyer flasks were increased by 22.9%. Furthermore, pneumocandin B<sub>0</sub> yield in a 50-L fermenter reached 2,100 mg/L and the dissolved oxygen maintained above 30%. Additionally, activities of phosphofructokinase (PFK), isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH), glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), and malic enzyme (ME) were increased by 87.5, 50, 41.6, and 10.7%, respectively. This study demonstrates the feasibility and advantages of using cotton seed powder for controlling the fungal morphology and improving the product yield in pneumocandin fermentations.</p>