Feeding strategies enhance high cell density cultivation and protein expression in milliliter scale bioreactors

Miniature bioreactors under parallel fed-batch operations are not only useful screening tools for bioprocess development but also provide a suitable basis for eventual scale-up. In this study, three feeding strategies were investigated: besides the established intermittent feeding by a liquid handler, an optimized microfluidic device and a new enzymatic release system were applied for parallel fed-batch cultivation of Escherichia coli HMS174(DE3) and BL21(DE3) strains in stirred-tank bioreactors on a 10 mL scale. Lower fluctuation in dissolved oxygen (DO) and higher optical densities were measured in fed-batch processes applying the microfluidic device or the enzymatic glucose/fructose release system (conversion of intermittently added sucrose by an invertase), but no difference in dry cell weights (DCW) were observed. With all three feeding strategies high cell densities were realized on a milliliter scale with final optical density measured at 600 nm (OD600) of 114-133 and final DCW concentrations of 69-70 g L-1. The effect of feeding strategies on the expression of two heterologous proteins was investigated. Whereas no impact was observed on the expression of the spider silk protein eADF4(C16), the fluorescence of enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP) was reproducibly lower, if an intermittent glucose feed was applied. Thus, the impact of feeding strategy on expression is strongly dependent on the E. coli strain and/or expressed protein. As a completely continuous feed supply is difficult to realize in miniature bioreactors, the enzymatic release approach from this study can be easily applied in all microfluidic system to reduce fluctuations of glucose supply and DO concentrations.