Sucrose medium osmolality as a regulator of anabolic and catabolic parameters in zymomonas culture

This study focuses on the growth of Zymomonas mobilis strain 113 S and its ethanol and levan production under the conditions of increasing sucrose medium osmolality caused by NaCl, KCl, sorbitol or maltose. The increase in medium osmolality (700-1,500 mosml/kg) was accompanied by the inhibition of growth (growth rate, biomass yield) and ethanol production (specific productivity and yield). In contrast, levan synthesis was less affected or even stimulated and, as a consequence, levan specific productivity was increased significantly. A decrease in the anabolic growth parameters correlated with a parallel inhibition of glucose-6-P dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase (isoenzyme ADH II) activities. A significant inverse linear relationship (r = - 0.932, 1 - P = 0.01) was observed between the values of the specific productivities of ethanol and levan. This relationship was confirmed independently by a controlled reduction of growth and ethanol productivity (3.75-4.75 mM sodiumbisulphite as an acceptor of acetaldehyde formed in the pyruvate decarboxylase reaction). As further support of this relationship, a significant inverse correlation was observed between levan specific productivity and ATP concentration in Zymomonas mobilis cells, most probably demonstrating that a reduced level of energetic metabolism is favourable for levan production.