title: Gluconic acid production by Aspergillus terreus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aspergillus terreus produces itaconic acid at low pH but lovastatin and other secondary metabolites at higher pH in the fermentation. The utilization of glucose as a carbon substrate was investigated for secondary metabolite production by A. terreus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With a starting pH of 6.5, glucose was rapidly metabolized to gluconic acid by the wild-type strain and by transformants harbouring Aspergillus niger genes encoding 6-phosphofructo-1-kinases with superior kinetic and regulatory properties for bioproduction of metabolites from glucose. On exhaustion of the glucose in batch fermentations, the accumulated gluconic acid was utilized as a carbon source.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A novel pathway of glucose catabolism was demonstrated in A. terreus, a species whose wild type is, without any strain development, capable of producing gluconic acid at high molar conversion efficiency (up to 0.7 mol mol(-1) glucose consumed).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Aspergillus terreus is a potential novel producer organism for gluconic acid, a compound with many uses as a bulk chemical. With a new knowledge of glucose catabolism by A. terreus, fermentation strategies for secondary metabolite production can be devised with glucose feeding using feedback regulation by pH.
authors.affiliation: beòcarta Ltd., Royal College Building, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dowdells
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mattey
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bencina
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Legisa
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Mousdale
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D005285:Fermentation; D005942:Gluconates / Q000378:metabolism*; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D010732:Phosphofructokinase-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D005942:Gluconates; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D002244:Carbon; D010732:Phosphofructokinase-1; D005947:Glucose; C030691:gluconic acid