Summary
Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 was submitted to repeated subculturing at 24-hour intervals for 218 days. The organism retained its ability to form solvents, although the fermentation slowly became increasingly acidogenic during the first 200 days. Except for the initial spore inoculum, the cultures were not subjected to heat shocking between the serial transfers. When the inoculum volume was doubled from 3.3% to 6.7% after 200 days of subculturing, the product formation pattern quickly shifted back from acids to primarily butanol. Acetone production also resumed after being undetectable for more than 50 days. The relative formation of acetate and ethanol remained nearly constant throughout the experiments, while the formation of butyrate mirrored that of butanol.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Finn RK, Nowrey JE (1959) A note on the stability of clostridia when held in continuous culture. Appl Microbiol 7:29–32
Gapes JR, Larsen VF, Maddox IS (1983) A note on procedures for inoculum development for the production of solvents by a strain of Clostridium butylicum. J Appl Bacteriol 55:363–365
George HA, Chen J-S (1983) Acidic conditions are not obligatory for onset of butanol formation by Clostridium beijerinckii (synonym, C. butylicum). Appl Environ Microbiol 46:321–327
Gottschal JC, Morris JG (1982) Continuous production of acetone and butanol by Clostridium acetobutylicum growing in turbidostat culture. Biotechnol Lett 4:477–482
Grimbert L (1893) Fermentation anaerobic produite par le Bacillus orthobutylicus ses variations sous certaines influences biologiques. Ann Inst Pasteur 7:353–402
Hartmanis MGN, Gatenbeck S (1984) Intermediary metabolism in Clostridium acetobutylicum: Levels of enzymes involved in the formation of acetate and butyrate. Appl environ Microbiol 47:1277–1283
Kutzenok A, Aschner M (1952) Degenerative processes in a strain of Clostridium butylicum. J Bacteriol 64:829–836
Stephens GM, Holt RA, Gottschal JC, Morris JG (1985) Studies on the stability of solvent production by Clostridium acetobutylicum in continuous culture. J Appl Bacteriol 59:597–605
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hartmanis, M.G.N., Åhlman, H. & Gatenbeck, S. Stability of solvent formation in Clostridium acetobutylicum during repeated subculturing. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 23, 369–371 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257035
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257035