Self Assessment

Theoretical and Observed Yields

It is necessary to differentiate between theoretical and observed yields. This is particularly
important for cell metabolism because there are always many reactions occurring at the same time.
If the total mass of substrate consumed is ST, a proportion of ST equal to SG is used for growth, and
the rest, SR, is for product formation and metabolic activities. Therefore the observed biomass
yield based on total substrate consumption is

Y XS

X
X

S T
S G S R

The theoretical biomass yield form substrate is:

Y XS

X
S G

SG is usually unknown
The value of observed yield can be estimated from experimental data

Y XS

dX rX

dS T
rS

Observed yield coefficient can be estimated from plotting X, S against each other and evaluating the
slope.
Observed yields are not necessarily constant throughout batch culture. In some cases they exhibit
significant dependence on substrate concentration and grow rate.
The theoretical biomass yield can be determined for systems without extracellular product
formation or when product synthesis is directly coupled to energy metabolism.

m
1
1

Y XS
Y XS

Assuming that ms and i 1/YXS are constant, a plot of 1/YXS vs 1/give a straight line with slope of
ms and intercept of 1/YXS.

Question
Escherichia Coli is being used for production of recombinant porcine growth hormone. The
bacterial are grown aerobically in batch culture with glucose as growth-limiting substrate. Cell and
substrate concentrations are measured as a function of culture time, the results are listed below.
Time (h)
0.0
0.33
0.5
0.75
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
2.8
3.0
3.1
3.2
3.5
3.7.

Cell concentration, X (kg/m-3)

0.20
0.21
0.22
0.32
0.47
1.00
2.10
4.42
6.9
9.4
10.9
11.6
11.7
11.6

Substrate Concentration, S (kg/m-3)

25.0
24. 8
24.8
24.6
24.3
23.3
20.7
15.7
10.2
5.2
1.65
0.2
0.0
0.0

(a) Plot as a function of time.

(b) What is the value of max?
(c) What is the observed biomass yield from substrate? Is YXS constant?