NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF OSCILLATORY BEHAVIOR DURING SOLVENT PRODUCTION BY CLOSTRIDIUM-ACETOBUTYLICUM IN CONTINUOUS CULTURE

The concurrent production of acids and solvents and the production of acetone during continuous culture in a product-limited chemostat indicated that the culture contained a mixture of acid- and solvent-producing cells. Periodic oscillations in the yield of end products and the specific growth rate of the culture were observed during undisturbed continuous culture at a constant dilution rate. It is proposed that the oscillatory behavior observed during continuous culture is an inherent characteristic related to the shift from primary to secondary metabolism, which precludes the attainment of a true steady state during continuous culture.