Nov 14, 1991 - substrates, with noncompetitive inhibition of V. alcalescens by 02. The growth characteristics of the aerobic and anaerobic organisms were ...
Vol. 58, No. 5
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, May 1992, p. 1466-1476
Modelling of Mixed Chemostat Cultures of an Aerobic Bacterium, Comamonas testosteroni, and an Anaerobic Bacterium, Veillonella alcalescens: Comparison with Experimental Data JAN GERRITSE,* FRITS SCHUT, AND JAN C. GOTISCHAL Department of Microbiology, University of Groningen, Kerklaan 30, 9751 NN Haren, The Netherlands Received 14 November 1991/Accepted 7 February 1992
A mathematical model of mixed chemostat cultures of the obligately aerobic bacterium Comamonas testosteroni and the anaerobic bacterium Veillonella alcalescens grown under dual limitation of L-lactate and oxygen was constructed. The model was based on Michaelis-Menten-type kinetics for the consumption of substrates, with noncompetitive inhibition of V. alcalescens by 02. The growth characteristics of the aerobic and anaerobic organisms were determined experimentally with pure cultures of the individual species in (oxygen-limited) chemostats. Using these pure-culture data in the model of the mixed culture resulted in a good description of the actual mixed cultures of the two bacteria. In the actual mixed-culture experiments, coexistence of the two species occurred only when the cultures were oxygen limited. With increasing oxygen supply (the actual oxygen concentration in the culture remaining at
