Production of Clavulanic Acid by Streptomyces clavuligerus in Batch Cultures with Using Wheat Bran as the Source of Carbon

Nowadays Microbial biotechnology is considered as one of the most important and profitable branches of industry. In this approach, by using the generator microorganisms, We are able to produce biotechnological products, with higher efficiency. Streptomyces clavuligerus is a Gram-positive, filamentous bacterium which produces several important secondary metabolites, one of which is the beta-lactamase inhibitor clavulanic acid. Clavulanic acid is being used in combination with commonly used beta-lactam antibiotics in order to fight against bacterial infections that are resistant to such antibiotics and this product plays a major role in pharmaceutical industry especially in producing Co-Amoxiclav. The fermentation stage plays a major role in producing secondary products. The compositions of fermentation media plays an important role in the titer and productivity of secondary metabolites and the cost of raw materials. Carbon substrate is one of the most important and expensive component of media in this stage. Thus, utilizing affordable carbon resources with an acceptable level of output which is native and can be accesses with a constant quality is of great significance. The present research seeks to study the effect of various densities of wheat bran as the natural source of carbon and the cost in producing clavulanic acid. In this research, we used wheat bran, instead of corn oil, as a suitable carbon and energy resource in formulation of fermentation process. Spore suspension was cultivated in seed ripening environment. Having formed mycelium, it was then transfered to clavulanic production medium. The final product was cultivated for a period of 9 days in the temperature of 28 °C and the pH value, biomass, clavulanic acid concentrations (by HPLC and Spectrophotometry) and morphology of the strain were studied. The results showed that the clavulanic acid production in the medium containing wheat bran as carbon source some has increased with respect to control. Clavulanic acid production was obtained in the fermentation medium containing 17 g/L wheat bran which is 180 mg/L. The clavulanic acid production increased about 12 percent compared to the control medium.