l-Glutamic Acid Fermentation with Molasses

Conditions suitable for the cell wall lysis of a l-glutamate-producing bacterium, Microbacterium ammoniaphilum, by egg white lysozyme were studied, in order to make clear the correlation of the fatty acid composition of the cellular fractions and the extracellular accumulation of l-glutamate,

The cell wall of a phage-resistant strain was recognized to be almost completely lyzed by the lysozyme.

Using this result, the relationship between the fatty acid composition of each fraction and extracellular accumulation of l-glutamate was investigated, and the following thesis was proposed: The extracellular accumulation of l-glutamate in large quantity took place when the molar ratio of saturated/unsaturated fatty acid in the cell membrane fraction was above 1.