A SIMPLE MORPHOLOGICALLY STRUCTURED MODEL DESCRIBING THE GROWTH OF FILAMENTOUS MICROORGANISMS

Based on the reported mechanisms for filamentous growth, a simple morphologically structured growth model is set up. The model may describe the growth of filamentous microorganisms both on a solid medium and in a submerged culture. For description of a submerged culture the model is combined with a simple population model, which is derived from a balance for the distribution function for the hyphal elements. The model is compared with experimental data for three species of filamentous microorganisms: Geotrichum candidum, Streptomyces hygroscopicus, and Penicillium chrysogenum.