Systematic Investigation of Ergosterol Fermentation by Kluyveromyces marxianus Y.00243 via Statistical Design

Ergosterol, an important pharmaceutical intermediate, is the precursor of liposoluble vitamin D2 and cortisone. It is also a main sterol in yeast cells and responsible for structural features of membranes such as the integrity, fluidity, permeability and activity of membrane-bound enzymes. Kluyveromyces marxianus is able to utilize various sugars such as lactose, xylose and arabinose against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and is also thermotolerant. Based on these aforementioned characteristics, K. marxianus can be of great importance in the utilization of whey and lignocellulosic biomass. In this paper, the effect of four factors on the specific ergosterol content and yeast growth was investigated using two statistical experimental designs. The factors examined were initially added alcohol, temperature, salt concentration and pH. The initially added alcohol had a positive effect on the specific ergosterol content, resulted in 37 % specific ergosterol content increasement. The temperature had a negative effect on yeast growth reducing the biomass concentration by 50 % when increased from 25 °C to 30 °C. The pH had a significant effect only on the specific ergosterol content, having an optimum at pH 5.5. The salt concentration had no significant effect in either case. Based on the results, it is suggested that the setup which facilitates higher ergosterol content but does not slow down the growth of the yeast remarkably should be selected, which are 25 °C, pH 5.3 and 3 % of initial ethanol content.