Institution: | 1 Research Laboratory for the Chemistry of Bioactive Carbohydrates and Proteins, Department of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK ? Department of Microbiology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab 141004, India § Department of Statistics and Mathematics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (Punjab 141004, India |
Abstract: | Vitamin B12 production in fermentation of Propionibacterium shermanii and Propionibacterium arl AKU 1251 in whey permeate medium has been studied. The observed results and simulated expected values obtained by fitting statistical equations to the recorded data showed that 24 h old inoculum, 5 mg iron l?1 and 4% whey lactose were optimal for vitamin B12 biosynthesis in both strains when fermentation was carried out under anerobic (84 h) and aerobic (84 h) conditions at 30°C. The supplementation of whey medium with 0.5% (NH4)2HPO4 enhanced further the metabolite yield; however, the preference for a mixed carbon source (lactose + d-glucose or lactose + d-fructose) at different levels varied in the strains under study. P. shermanii, under optimal cultural conditions, was found to be a better strain than Propionibacterium arl AKU, 1251 in fermenting whey lactose for product (vitamin B12) formation. |