Project Details
Projekt
Optimization of production of antimicrobial substances from terrestrial cyanobacteria - from screnning to bioreactor development
Subject Area
Biological Process Engineering
Term
from 2016 to 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 323611467
Multidrug-Resistant pathogens (MRP) are of major concern to hospitals today. The discovery and establishment of new antibiotics is therefore essential, along with a more conscious use of antibiotics. For this reason, the focus of this project is the cultivation of terrestrial cyanobacteria for the production of new antimicrobial substances. Antibacterial substances have previously been isolated from cyanobacteria and characterized; however there has been little research on terrestrial cyanobacteria due to the inability to optimally culture phototrophic biofilms. The Institute of Bioprocess Engineering at TU Kaiserslautern has access to one of the largest culture collections of terrestrial cyanobacteria (University of Kaiserslautern, Chair of Experimental Ecology, Prof. Dr. Büdel), and to the biosphere tower in the Biosphere Reserve Palatinate Forest/ Northern Vosges, which is located within an oak stand. This variety of potential antibiotic producers should be taken advantage of by testing cyanobacteria for their antibiotic effects and cultivating those showing positive results. A new emerse photobioreactor, developed at the Institute of Bioprocess Engineering, is ideal for the cultivation of those terrestrial cyanobacteria. The medium is vaporized by an ultrasound transducer and guided as an aerosol in the reactor. Drought stress and pH changes allow a maximum yield of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) to be achieved while saving medium. In a biofilm system, antibiotics are not released into the media but accumulate in the EPS and can be isolated in higher concentration as in submerse systems. If antimicrobial activities are found, the structure of the related compounds must be elucidated. The initial titers of the active strains should be improved by varying different process parameters such as energy and carbon supply. Photoautotrophic, chemoorganotrophic and mixotrophic cultivations in shake flasks and in different bioreactor set-ups will be performed and antibiotic production will be analyzed. Finally, a process model should be investigated for antibiotic production by at least one cyanobacterium.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
Major Instrumentation
Schüttelinkubator
Instrumentation Group
1080 Schüttelgeräte, Rüttler
