Use of Potato Nitrogen Concentrate in the Production of α-Amylase by Aspergillus oryzae

Marie-Astrid Dolnik¹*, Eric Thaller¹, Ferdinand Karner¹, Werner A. Hampel¹, Ulrich Stifter², Eduard Taufratzhofer², Marnik-Michel Wastyn² and Bernhard F. Adamitsch¹

¹Institute of Chemical Engineering, Section of Industrial Microbiology and Bioengineering, Vienna University of Technology, Getreidemarkt 9/166, A-1060 Vienna, Austria
²Zuckerforschung Tulln GmbH, Reitherstraße 21-23, A-3430 Tulln, AustriaZagreb, Croatia

Article history:
Received March 30, 2006
Accepted May 23, 2006

Key words:
α-amylase, Aspergillus oryzae, potato nitrogen concentrate (PNC)

Summary:
The influence of various nitrogen sources and media supplements on α-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1) formation by Aspergillus oryzae ATCC 1011 was investigated in shake flask experiments and batch fermentations. Both inorganic and organic nitrogen-containing supplements have been applied, while corn starch and ammonium sulphate were used as the major source of carbon and nitrogen, respectively. Shake flask experiments revealed that potato nitrogen concentrate (PNC) is almost equivalent to corn steep liquor (CSL) in supporting amylase formation. A pretreatment step consisting of clarification of the turbid material did not show any significant effect. The replacement of the inorganic nitrogen source by sodium nitrate led to lower enzyme yields. Other complex supplements may reduce the enzyme level formed, e.g. casein hydrolysate, or increase the amylase titre slightly, e.g. yeast extract or malt extract. Cultivations in instrumented bench top reactors on media supplemented with PNC led to higher cell growth rates and yields of α-amylase in comparison with the medium without any supplement. Replacement of PNC by CSL revealed a slightly increased enzyme level, which is in the range of 9–17 % after 100 h of cultivation. Only minor differences were revealed in the growth kinetics and enzyme formation when PNC was used as the sole nitrogen source, replacing a mixture of soybean meal, yeast extract, malt extract and casein hydrolysate in bioreactor cultivations with lactose as the carbon source. However, metabolic differences as seen from the course of dissolved oxygen tension (DOT), α-amino nitrogen concentration and the amount of acid needed to maintain a constant pH were observed.

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