Application of mineral support on cephamycin C production in culture using soybean oil as the sole carbon source

A mineral support was used for cephamycin C production in a culture using soybean oil as the sole carbon source. When the support was added into an oil-water system, the soybean oil was emulsified as fine oil droplets, which was observed by a photomicroscope. Mycelia were also twined around the support, which was observed by a scanning electron microscope. That caused the formation of an oil-mycelia complex on or around the support, which provided a larger specific surface area of oil. When 15 g/L of the support was used in a batch culture of Streptomyces sp. P6621 with 50 g/L of soybean oil, the maximum cephamycin C concentration was 2.8 g/L, which was 2.2 times higher than that without the support. This indicates that the mineral support is useful for the culture system using vegetable oil as a carbon source.