CONTINUOUS ANTIBIOTIC PRODUCTION BY AN IMMOBILIZED CYANOBACTERIUM IN A SEAWEED-TYPE BIOREACTOR

The filamentous cyanobacterium, Scytonema sp. TISTR 8208, which produces a cyclic peptide antibiotic, was cultivated for 20 d in a seaweed-type bioreactor containing anchored polyurethan foam strips. Cells immobilized onto the foam strips produced the antibiotic for only several days, and the secreted antibiotic disappeared very rapidly from the medium. Cells accumulated the antibiotic intracellularly in a growth-related manner, and secreted it in the stationary phase. Since the antibiotic has a stable physico-chemical nature, the cells seem to take it up and metabolize it. When continuous cultivation was attempted, stable production of the antibiotic was maintained in the bioreactor for 16 d at a dilution rate of 0.01 h(-1). Three times more antibiotic was produced in the continuous culture than in the batch culture by the 16th day.