Effect of dissolved oxygen concentration on red pigment and citrinin production by Monascus purpureus ATCC 36928

The present study investigated the effects of agitation speed, N (200, 500, 600 or 700 rpm), and dissolved oxygen concentration, C (120, >70, 70, 60, 10 or < 10%), on red pigment and citrinin production by Monascus purpureus ATCC 36928, cultivated in liquid medium by a batch process. The gas f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: D. G. Pereira, A. Tonso, B. V. Kilikian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Brazilian Society of Chemical Engineering 2008-06-01
Series:Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-66322008000200004
Description
Summary:The present study investigated the effects of agitation speed, N (200, 500, 600 or 700 rpm), and dissolved oxygen concentration, C (120, >70, 70, 60, 10 or < 10%), on red pigment and citrinin production by Monascus purpureus ATCC 36928, cultivated in liquid medium by a batch process. The gas flow rate was the same for all runs with C controlled by means of the incoming gas composition control (air/N2 or air/O2). From the response surface plots it can be verified that the effect of C was greater than that of N on the production of both metabolites. The absorbance for red pigments varied from 1.6 U (C< 10%; N=200 rpm) up to 3.3 U (C=60%; N=600 rpm), an increase of 106%, while citrinin concentration increased 257%, from 14.2 to 50.7 mg.L-1. The most appropriate conditions were C=60% and N=600rpm, under which the highest red pigment absorbance (3.3U) and half of the highest citrinin concentration were obtained.
ISSN:0104-6632
1678-4383