High cell density cultivation of Brevibacterium linens and formation of proteinases and lipase.

Brevibacterium linens forms hydrolytic enzymes which can be used to accelerate the ripening of cheese without causing bitterness. B. linens ATCC 9172 was grown to a high cell density (50 g dry wt l-1 after 60 h) in a mineral medium containing lactic acid, soy-peptone and ammonium sulphate by applying a continuous feed of nutrients. The maximal activities of L-leucine aminopeptidase and cell-associated proteinase were 286 U l-1 and 202 U l-1, respectively. The cell-associated lipolytic activity exhibited a strong and sudden increase at 46 h, resulting in a maximum of 9.5 U g-1 dry wt; thus the volumetric productivity of proteolytic and lipolytic activity was 4220 U l-1 h-1 and 7.3 U l-1 h-1, respectively.