Differences in metabolites production using the Biolog FF Microplate™ system with an emphasis on some organic acids of Aspergillus niger wild type strains

Abstract

This paper investigates the differences in some metabolites using Biolog FF Microplate (TM) system and the production of organic acids such as beta-hydroxybutyric, p-hydroxyphenylacetic, and others. Another group of organic acids such as gluconic, oxalic and citric acid were studied during cultivation in a liquid medium. Four different Aspergillus niger (An) wild type strains were used as a model organism. Three strains, from the Banska Stiavnica - Sobov (An - S), Pezinok (An - P) and Slovinky (An - Sl) localities were isolated from contaminated old mining areas with soil with ultra acidic to strong alkaline reactions. The fourth strain isolated from the Gabcikovovo (An - G) locality was used for comparative purposes. According to the RAMP analysis, the strains are clustered into two groups, An - S and An - P (similarity 82%), An - G and An - Sl (similarity 64%) which correlates with the pH values of the original environment. However, significant differences were found in metabolic processes in the reaction with a wide range of organic acids. In general, the reactions with D-lactic acid and D-malic acid correlate with the results of the RAMP analysis of fungal genotype similarities, the An - S and An - P strains had an identical negative reaction, and an identical positive reaction was found in the An - Sl and An - G strains. During incubation the wild-type strains produced substantial amounts of gluconic acid, oxalic acid and small amounts of citric acid. The appearance and accumulation of organic acids was found to be highly pH dependent with the most active strain isolated from an ultra-acidic environment. The comparative strain differs entirely in the production of oxalic acid.