The effect of lactate addition on the growth of Penicillium camembertii on glutamate

The effect of an additional carbon source, lactate, on Penicillium camembertii growth on glutamate as both carbon and nitrogen sources was examined. Glutamate (and lactate) was present in excess in both media. Throughout the whole culture, similar growth time-courses were recorded on both media, indicating the absence of a lactate effect on growth. During the first part of growth, corresponding to an increasing amount of viable biomass, the rate of glutamate consumption remained high, as well as the related ammonium production, indicating its use as a carbon source in addition to being nitrogen source. The low growth rates recorded during the last part of growth resulted in low glutamate consumption, while lactate consumption continued mainly by a maintenance mechanism for the energy supply. A clear differentiation appeared therefore between the carbon source and the energy source: glutamate was mainly used as C source (and N source) for biosynthesis, while lactate was mainly assimilated for energy supply. Carbon and nitrogen yield examinations confirmed this result. Indeed, the C/N ratio found for P. camembertii cellular material (8.14) was about twice that of glutamate (4.29). From this, about half of the available nitrogen was used for biomass formation during growth on glutamate-lactate based medium, as experimentally confirmed (constant yield nitrogen from biomass on nitrogen from glutamate was found (0.49), while the excess nitrogen was released as ammonium). The constant and close to unit (0.99) yield carbon from CO2 on carbon from lactate, also recorded during growth on glutamate-lactate based medium, confirmed that lactate was mainly used as an energy source.