PID Controlled Constant RQ Fermentation Of Pichia Pastoris In The DASbox® Mini Bioreactor System

By Nina Schrand, Malte Schneider, Ma Sha

Compared to mammalian cell culture, Pichia pastoris displays a much faster growth and requires less expensive growth medium, making it ideal for protein production in bioreactors. For optimizing the production yield of a P. pastoris culture, one of the most important factors is the feeding strategy. To demonstrate the feasibility of constant respiratory quotient (RQ) based feeding via a script integrated to the DASware® control 5 bioprocess control software, we grew the respiro-fermentative yeast P. pastoris in the DASbox® Mini Bioreactor System.

The objectives of this study are (1) to demonstrate the feasibility of a constant RQ based feeding using the DASware control 5 professional software and the DASbox Mini Bioreactor System; (2) to show the benefits of constant RQ control in P. pastoris fermentation as well as its effect on the amount of feed used and the microbial growth; (3) to explain the measurements necessary for RQ determination as well as the corresponding calculations automatically done by the Eppendorf GA4 gas analyzer module; and (4) to give background information of the RQ, showcasing its potential for usage.