Demonstration of the Crabtree effect in Phaffia rhodozyma during continuous and fed-batch cultivation

By monitoring cell yield and fermentation products during fed-batch and continuous growth, Pfaffia rhodozyma was shown to exhibit the Crabtree effect. In fed-batch culture at feed concentrations of 27 and 55 g glucose/l there was good agreement between the observed biomass formation and that predicted by a mass balance model. At 125 g glucose/l in the feed, biomass formation was less than predicted and fermentation products such as ethanol and acetic acid accumulated in the culture medium. In continuous culture with a feed concentration of 10 g glucose/l, the Crabtree effect became apparent at a dilution rate of 0.1 h(-1). Aerobic fermentation did not occur provided the sugar substrate was maintained at a concentration of less than 0.5 g/l. Although the cell yield coefficient was reduced from 0.5 g/g to 0.16 g/g during aerobic fermentation, the carotenoid content of the cells was unaffected.