Evaluation of Sheep Wool Protein Hydrolysate and Molasses as Low-Cost Fermentation Substrates for Hyaluronic Acid Production by Streptococcus zooepidemicus ATCC 35246

Abstract

Abstract: Peptones are widely used as complex fermentation substrate for hyaluronic acid (HA) production; however, use of peptones in HA production reduces commercial competitiveness due to their high price. The present study was conducted to test the feasibility of sheep wool peptone (SWP) (mainly organic nitrogen source) and molasses (mainly carbon source) as cheap substrates for HA production from Streptococcus zooepidemicus ATCC 35246. Six peptones (SWP I–VI) were prepared from sheep wool using different chemical hydrolysis methods. Among them, SWP-VI was determined to be more fovarable for HA production. SWP-VI was compared with commercial tryptone peptone (TP) and protease peptone (PP) in order to evaluate its effectiveness in production of HA, lactic acid (LA) and cell biomass (CB). The protein contents of SWP-VI, TP and PP were determined as 70.6, 83.1 and 83.8 g/100 g, respectively. The best peptone for HA and CB production was SWP-VI, whereas PP was found to be more favourable for LA production. Maximum HA concentrations in SWP-VI, TP and PP media were determined as 3.54, 2.58 and 2.47 g/L, respectively. Graphic Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2020, Springer Nature B.V.