Author(s)

Qi Fu¹, Yujuan Xiao^1*, Xuehui Duan², Huabin Huang¹, Zhixia Zhuang¹, Jinhai Shen¹, Yangyue Pei¹, Haojia Xu¹, Meiyu Gan¹

¹Department of Science and Technology for Inspection, Xiamen Huaxia University, Xiamen, China.
²State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang, China.

A red-pigmented bacterial strain NS-17 was isolated from soil, and physiological and biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA analysis established this organism as a strain of Serratia marcescens. The red pigment isolated from cells of NS-17 was identified as prodigiosin. By analyzing factors affecting the production of prodigiosin, modified medium and culture conditions were set up, and a continuous fermentation method was carried out to take advantage of the mass production of foam during fermentation. Continuous fermentation was achieved in the following conditions: 32℃, 1:1 ventilation ratio, and medium with a nutrient concentration 5-fold higher than that of the fermentation medium (with half the inorganic salt concentration) supplied as a feed medium at a flow rate of 8 mL/min. For the first time of continuous fermentation of Serratia marcescens coupling with foam flotation, a high yield of prodigiosin was obtained. After 56 h of culturing, the total harvest of cells was enhanced 2.33-fold compared to that of batch fermentation, the total amount of prodigiosin was enhanced 2.70-fold compared to that of batch fermentation, and cells and prodigiosin were concentrated in the efflux broth automatically.

Serratia marcescens, Prodigiosin, Foam, Continuous Fermentation, Automatic Concentration

Fu, Q. , Xiao, Y. , Duan, X. , Huang, H. , Zhuang, Z. , Shen, J. , Pei, Y. , Xu, H. and Gan, M. (2019) Continuous Fermentation of a Prodigiosin-Producing Serratia marcescens Strain Isolated from Soil. Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 10, 98-108. doi: 10.4236/abb.2019.104007.