Growth and diosgenin production by Dioscorea deltoidea cells in batch and continuous cultures.

This paper reports the kinetics of growth and diosgenin production in batch cultures, and the application of the continuous culture (chemostat) technique to Dioscorea deltoidea cells. In batch cultures, biomass production was dependent on the concentration (up to 60 g/liter) of the carbon source (sucrose); the cellular yield value obtained was 0.4 g cell dry wt/g sucrose utilized. Diosgenin was synthesized only after growth had ceased; its synthesis proceeded for about 18 days and a concentration of 1.8% (of cell dry wt.) was obtained. D. deltoidea cells were grown at steady state conditions, at a constant growth rate in a chemostat. Only small amounts of diosgenin were produced by growing cells in the chemostat.