A Morphologically Structured Model for Mycelial Growth and Secondary Metabolite Formation

A morphologically structured model is proposed to describe the batch fermentation of lovastatin according to the growth kinetics of filamentous microorganisms. Three kinds of hyphae are considered in the model:actively growing hyphae, non-growing hyphae and deactivated hyphae. Furthermore, actively growing hyphae consist of three morphological compartments: apical compartment which gives rise to hyphal tip extension; subapical compartment which is related to hyphal branching; and hyphal compartment which is only responsible for secondary metabolite formation. The kinetics of mycelial growth mechanism is summarized and applied in modeling lovastatin fermentation. A Michaelis-Menten kinetic model with substrate inhibition is proposed for product formation. As expected, the model simulations fit well with experimental data obtained either from a laboratory scale 10 L fermenter or from a vilot-vlant scale fermenter.