Studies on nutritional and oxygen requirements for production of L-asparaginase by Enterobacter aerogenes

The carbon and nitrogen sources most suitable for L-asparaginase production by Enterobacter aerogenes were selected and their concentrations optimized in shake-flask cultures. Sodium citrate (1.0%) and diammonium hydrogen phosphate (0.16%) proved to be the best sources of carbon and nitrogen, respectively. Nitrogen catabolite repression of enzyme formation was absent in this bacterium. Cultivation in a reactor showed that the dissolved oxygen level is the limiting factor for L-asparaginase production by E. aerogenes. Glucose was found to be a repressor of enzyme synthesis. Asparagine was absent intracellularly when the L-asparaginase level was high. An increase in the extracellular alanine level when the dissolved oxygen remained low indicated a shift from aerobic to fermentative metabolism.