Evaluation and Mathematical Analysis of a Four-Dimensional Lotka–Volterra-like Equation Designed to Describe the Batch Nisin Production System

 Mathematics 2022, 10(5), 677

Nisin, an antibacterial compound produced by Lactococcus lactis strains, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to be used as a safe food additive to control the growth of undesirable pathogenic bacteria. Nisin is commonly described as a pH-dependent primary metabolite since its production depends on growth and culture pH evolution. However, the relationships between bacteriocin synthesis (BT), biomass production (X), culture pH, and the consumption of the limiting nutrient (total nitrogen: TN) have not been described until now. Therefore, this study aims to develop a competitive four-dimensional Lotka–Volterra-like Equation (predator-prey system) to describe these complex relationships in three series of batch fermentations with L. lactis CECT 539 in diluted whey (DW)-based media. The developed four-dimensional predator-prey system accurately described each individual culture, providing a good description of the relationships between pH, TN, X, and BT, higher values for R2 and F-ratios, lower values (<10%) for the mean relative percentage deviation modulus, with bias and accuracy factor values approximately equal to one. The mathematical analysis of the developed equation showed the existence of one asymptotically stable equilibrium point, and the phase’s diagram obtained did not show the closed elliptic trajectories observed in biological predator-prey systems.

Combination of food wastes for an efficient production of nisin in realkalized fed-batch cultures

Biochemical Engineering Journal

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2017.03.012

Nisin production by Lactococcus lactis CECT 539 was studied in four realkalized fed-batch cultures in diluted whey with feeding with lactose- and glucose-containing substrates. The first and third cultures were fed with mixtures of whey (W) and a 400 g/L concentrated glucose (CG), or with a concentrated mussel processing waste (CMPW) and CG, respectively.

The second and fourth cultures were respectively performed under the same conditions as in the first and third fermentations. However, these cultures were supplemented with mixtures of W plus a 2% (w/v) yeast extract (WYE2) and CG (second culture), or with CMPW plus a 2% (w/v) yeast extract (CMPWYE2) (fourth culture) after sample extractions at 132 and 168 h, respectively. From these times, each culture was fed with mixtures of WYE2 and CG, or CMPWYE2 and CG, respectively.

The final concentrations of nisin obtained in the third (223.98 BU/mL) and fourth (350.61 BU/mL) cultures, fed with glucose-containing substrates (CG and CMPW), were considerably higher than those obtained in the first (108.00 BU/mL) and second (158.53 BU/mL) cultures fed with the mixture of lactose- and glucose-containing substrates (W and CG).

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2016, 100 (18), 7899–790

DOI: 10.1007/s00253-016-7558-9

Nisin production by Lactococcus lactis CECT 539 was followed in batch cultures in whey supplemented with different concentrations of glucose and in two realkalized fed-batch fermentations in unsupplemented whey, which were fed, respectively, with concentrated solutions of lactose and glucose. In the batch fermentations, supplementation of whey with glucose inhibited both the growth and bacteriocin production. However, fed-batch cultures were characterized with high productions of biomass (1.34 and 1.51 g l−1) and nisin (50.6 and 60.3 BU ml−1) in comparison to the batch fermentations in unsupplemented whey (0.48 g l−1 and 22.5 BU ml−1) and MRS broth (1.59 g l−1 and 50.0 BU ml−1). In the two realkalized fed-batch fermentations, the increase in bacteriocin production parallels both the biomass production and pH drop generated in each realkalization and feeding cycle, suggesting that nisin was synthesized as a pH-dependent primary metabolite. A shift from homolactic to heterolactic fermentation was observed at the 108 h of incubation, and other metabolites (acetic acid and butane-2,3-diol) in addition to lactic acid accumulated in the medium. On the other hand, the feeding with glucose improved the efficiencies in glucose, nitrogen, and phosphorus consumption as compared to the batch cultures. The realkalized fed-batch fermentations showed to be an effective strategy to enhance nisin production in whey by using an appropriate feeding strategy to avoid the substrate inhibition.