Transient Accumulation of Fatty Alcohols by n-Paraffin-grown Microorganism

In the course of the study on glutamic acid fermentation by Arthrobacter paraffineus, in which n-paraffin was used as the sole source of carbon, it was observed that fatty alcohollike lipid was accumulated in the paraffin layer of culture medium. This was isolated and identified as the primary fatty alcohol having the corresponding carbon skeleton to that of n-paraffin used as the carbon source. The accumulation of fatty alcohol occurred rapidly in the early-log phase. The maximum amount of the accumulation was approximately 0.5 mg/ml after 6 hr incubation. In contrast with the production of glutamic acid and trehalose, the addition of penicillin gave no effect on the accumulation of fattv alcohol. Acetone-treated cells of the n-paraffin-grown bacterium still had the oxidative activity of n-paraffin, and the formation of fatty alcohol from n-paraffin was observed only by the reaction in alkaline pH.