BREEDING OF ASPERGILLUS-TERREUS MUTANT TN-484 FOR ITACONIC ACID PRODUCTION WITH HIGH-YIELD

A strain, designated TN-484, producing itaconic acid with a high yield was successfully obtained by selection using an itaconic acid concent ration-gradient agar plate technique after NTG-treatment of Aspergillu s terrerus IFO 6365. The itaconic acid concentration produced by TN-48 4 was 82 g/l from 160 g/l of glucose in a shaking flask, which is 1.3- times higher than that of the parental strain, and the highest value f ound in a literature survey. Apart from itaconic acid, by-product orga nic acids were not detected in the culture filtrate by HPLC analysis. The itaconic acid yields from cells and glucose were 1.8 and 1.2 times those of parental strain, respectively. The itaconic acid concentrati on was also reproduced in an air-lift bioreactor with a working volume of 2.5 l.