The citric acid fermentation by Aspergillus niger: regulation by zinc of growth and acidogenesis.

The citric acid fermentation by Aspergillus niger is divided into two consecutive phases, a growth phase when the cells proliferate but do not accumulate citrate, followed by an accumulating phase when they produce citrate but do not proliferate, or else do so at a much reduced rate. When studied in a low sucrose (0.4-0.8%) mpinimal salts medium the growth-accumulation alternative was controlled by the concentration of zinc: high zinc (about 1-2 muM) maintained growth phase, while at low zinc (below 1 muM) growth became limited by zinc deficiency and the cultures passed into accumulating phase. Addition of zinc to accumulating cultures resulted in their reversion to growth phase. Iron, manganese, calcium at concentrations as high as 5-10 muM had no influence on either growth or citrate accumulation. These results suggest that zinc plays a role in the regulation of growth and citric acid accumulation.