E. coli Cultivation In DASbox Mini Bioreactor System And DASGIP Parallel Bioreactor Systems

By Anne Niehus, Ulrike Becken, and Sebastian Kleebank, Eppendorf Bioprocess Center, Juelich, Germany

This protocol explains how to prepare and conduct E. coli fermentation processes in the DASbox Mini Bioreactor System and the DASGIP Parallel Bioreactor Systems. We would like to give an overview on the steps that have to be taken during the preparation and conduction of a bioprocess run. We also explain how these differ with the use of glass and BioBLU® Single-Use Vessels. We guide the user through all steps of a fermentation process, starting with the preparation of culture medium, to the preparation and operation of the vessels and bioprocess systems, and the analysis of samples.

In this example, we describe the fermentation of E. coli K12 in a working volume of 1 L. We explain which process parameters and control strategies can be optimized, depending on factors like the culture volume, the bacterial strain, and the desired end product. The protocol can serve as a starting point for further optimization.