Characterization of pellet morphology during submerged growth of Streptomyces tendae by image analysis

Many filamentous bacteria and fungi tend to form pellets, or mixtures of dispersed mycelium and pellets in liquid fermentation broths. In some cases, a specific kind of morphology is required for optimum product yield. When quantitative analysis and characterization of the pellet morphology are needed, an image processing system can be used. It allows a fast and reproducible analysis of the frequency distribution of pellet size, mean pellet size, contents of pellets, or their shape. The use of such a system allows for an on-line analysis. For a demonstration of the method, results of two fermentations of Streptomyces tendae are shown.