Accumulation of organic acids in cultivations of Neisseria meningitidis C

Aiming at the industrial production of serogroup C meningococcal vaccine, different experimental protocols were tested to cultivate Neisseria meningitidis C and to investigate the related organic acid release. Correlations were established between specific rates of acetic acid and lactic acid accumulation and specific growth rate, during cultivations carried out on the Frantz medium in a 13 l bioreactor at 35°C, 0.5 atm, 400 rpm and air flowrate of 2 l min-1. A first set of nine batch runs was carried out: (1) with control of dissolved oxygen (O2) at 10% of its saturation point, (2) with control of pH at 6.5, and (3) without any control, respectively. Additional fed-batch or partial fed-batch cultivations were performed without dissolved O2 control, varying glucose concentration from 1.0 to 3.0 g l -1, nine of which without pH control and other two with pH control at 6.5. No significant organic acid level was detected with dissolved O 2 control, whereas acetic acid formation appeared to depend on biomass growth either in the absence of any pH and dissolved O2 control or when the pH was kept at 6.5. Under these last conditions, lactic acid was released as well, but it did not seem to be associated to biomass growth. A survey of possible metabolic causes of this behavior suggested that N. meningitidis may employ different metabolic pathways for the carbon source uptake depending on the cultivation conditions.

Polysaccharide production of Neisseria meningitidis (Serogroup C) in batch and fed-batch cultivations

Serogroup C polysaccharide from Neisseria. meningitidis constitutes the antigen for the vaccine against the disease caused by this bacterium. Aiming at enhancing the final polysaccharide concentration as well as the overall yield factor (polysaccharide/biomass), 20 cultivations were carried out in Frantz medium in a 13 L bioreactor at 35°C, 0.5 atm, 400 rpm and air flowrate of 2 L/min. A series of nine batch experiments was carried out under three different conditions (with control of dissolved oxygen at 10%, with control of pH at 6.5 and without dissolved oxygen and pH controls). Another set of runs consisted of 11 fed-batch cultivations without dissolved oxygen control, varying glucose concentration from less than 1.0-3.0 g/L, four of which performed controlling the pH at 6.5, and four under partial fed-batch conditions. The highest polysaccharide concentration (0.26 g/L) and the overall yield (0.16 g/g), were obtained in batch and partial fed-batch experiments when glucose concentration was maintained below 1.0 g/L. An empirical relation is proposed to relate the specific production rate of polysaccharide to glucose concentration during the stationary growth phase of the fed-batch runs. The obtained polysaccharide satisfies the molecular weight criterion, being a suitable antigen for vaccine production.