A flexible mathematical model platform for studying branching networks : experimentally validated using the model actinomycete, Streptomyces coelicolor

Branching networks are ubiquitous in nature and their growth often responds to environmental cues dynamically. Using the antibiotic-producing soil bacterium Streptomyces as a model we have developed a flexible mathematical model platform for the study of branched biological networks. Streptomyces form large aggregates in liquid culture that can impair industrial antibiotic fermentations. Understanding the features of these could aid improvement of such processes. The model requires relatively few experimental values for parameterisation, yet delivers realistic simulations of Streptomyces pellet and is able to predict features, such as the density of hyphae, the number of growing tips and the location of antibiotic production within a pellet in response to pellet size and external nutrient supply. The model is scalable and will find utility in a range of branched biological networks such as angiogenesis, plant root growth and fungal hyphal networks

Processing of wheat bran to sugar solution

In accordance to better exploitation of raw material for bioethanol production we try to find the method for saccharification of problematic cover part of grain, so called bran. The bran consists of three main components: residual starch, hemicellulose and cellulose. Whereas hydrolysis of starch is easy and well solved, there are questions how to optimise hydrolysis of all polysaccharides together, including hernicellulose and cellulose. The bran was treated with starch degrading enzymes (Termamyl 120 L and AMG 300 L) in order to remove the starch from the solid particles and use the starch-free residue for hydrolysis of hernicelluloses to pentoses. This starch-free residue (SFR) was treated with sulphuric acid and high temperature during exact time. Different times of pre-treatment (10-50 min), different temperatures (110-180degreesC) and different concentrations of sulphuric acid (1-4% of weight of slurry) were tested, as well as presence of furfural and 5-hydroxy-methyl-2-furaldehyd (HMF), substances causing inhibition of fermentation, was evaluated. The best yield of sugars (52.1 g/100 g of SFR) was achieved by using 1% of sulphuric acid at 130degreesC for 40 min and this method generates very low content of furfural and HMF (0.28 g/l, resp. 0.05 g/l). (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Enhanced L-(+)-lactic acid production by an adapted strain of Rhizopus oryzae using corncob hydrolysate

Corncob is an economic feedstock and more than 20 million tons of corncobs are produced annually in China. Abundant xylose can be potentially converted from the large amount of hemicellulosic materials in corncobs, which makes the crop residue an attractive alternative substrate for a value-added production of a variety of bioproducts. Lactic acid can be used as a precursor for poly-lactic acid production. Although current industrial lactic acid is produced by lactic acid bacteria using enriched medium, production by Rhizopus oryzae is preferred due to its exclusive formation of the L-isomer and a simple nutrition requirement by the fungus. Production of L-(+)-lactic acid by R. oryzae using xylose has been reported; however, its yield and conversion rate are poor compared with that of using glucose. In this study, we report an adapted R. oryzae strain HZS6 that significantly improved efficiency of substrate utilization and enhanced production of L-(+)-lactic acid from corncob hydrolysate. It increased L-(+)-lactic acid final concentration, yield, and volumetric productivity more than twofold compared with its parental strain. The optimized growth and fermentation conditions for Strain HZS6 were defined