Dialysis fermentation. II. Kinetic analysis of salicylic acid production via cell growth and maintenance

Abstract

A kinetic analysis was made of the relationship between salicylate production from naphthalene and growth of Psezldomms fEuoresce7ts in semicontinuous dialysis culture. The specific rates both of product formation and growth initially were increased by the diffusional withdrawal of salicylate, but subsequently were reduced to low levels despite continued salicylate removal. Productivity and growth were correlated by the Luedeking-Piret equation in an initial nondialysis period and in the early stages of dialysis fermentation, when specific growth rates exceeded .005 hr-1. Below this level of growth at later stages of dialysis fermentation, the specific production rate was correlated only with total cell mass by a proportionality constant of .035 hr-l, which was attributed to maintenance metabolism. Maintenance accounted for about 847, of the total salicylate produced, while growth-associated metabolism accounted for the remainder.