Mycorrhizae..can I get more bang for my $$$?

greentiger87 · September 8, 2012

Well, it would basically be a diy version of submerged culture, which is an established way of culturing many useful organisms. A nutrient broth is inoculated with the microorganism in a flask, and then placed on a shaker table (with or without incubation). The nutrient broth is tailored precisely to fit whatever the goal is - producing a natural secondary metabolite or a transgenic product, producing spores for drying, or just producing more of the organism. It's scaled up to large tanks with air blowers for things like antibiotic production (and is likely how Actinovate and Serenade are made to begin with). The normal time period before a batch would be "ready", or full of spores and secondary metabolites, is usually around 48 hours.

I've investigated submerged culture of both bacillus subtilis and streptomyces lydicus... despite being very different animals, the actual requirements, especially for a rough/imprecise culture like this, are very similar. A carbon/carbohydrate source, a protein/nitrogen source, aeration, and trace elements (covered by tap water and whole food nutrient sources). In fact, other than being cultured at room temperature, this doesn't differ much from the submerged culture of E. coli, which I'm very familiar with.

September 8, 2012	#11
greentiger87 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Houston, TX - 9a Posts: 211	Well, it would basically be a diy version of submerged culture, which is an established way of culturing many useful organisms. A nutrient broth is inoculated with the microorganism in a flask, and then placed on a shaker table (with or without incubation). The nutrient broth is tailored precisely to fit whatever the goal is - producing a natural secondary metabolite or a transgenic product, producing spores for drying, or just producing more of the organism. It's scaled up to large tanks with air blowers for things like antibiotic production (and is likely how Actinovate and Serenade are made to begin with). The normal time period before a batch would be "ready", or full of spores and secondary metabolites, is usually around 48 hours. I've investigated submerged culture of both bacillus subtilis and streptomyces lydicus... despite being very different animals, the actual requirements, especially for a rough/imprecise culture like this, are very similar. A carbon/carbohydrate source, a protein/nitrogen source, aeration, and trace elements (covered by tap water and whole food nutrient sources). In fact, other than being cultured at room temperature, this doesn't differ much from the submerged culture of E. coli, which I'm very familiar with.