Mutation breeding of nuclease p1 production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Penicillium citrinum</Emphasis> by low-energy ion beam implantation

Nuclease p1 is an important enzyme in the nucleotide industry that is used to hydrolyze nucleic acid into nucleotides. To improve enzyme activity, Penicillium citrinum, a nuclease p1 producing strain, was mutated by low-energy Nitrogen ion beam implantation at an energy level of 15 keV and a dose ranging from 1×10¹⁵–1×10¹⁶ ions/cm². The mutant strain designated as N409 was obtained with a high yield of nuclease p1. The activity of nuclease p1 was 421 U/mL from the mutant strain N409, which was increased by 86% compared with the control. The fermentation kinetics of nuclease p1 by the mutant strain N409 was studied in a 30 L external airlifting bioreactor. A model was proposed using the logistic equation for microbial growth, the Luedeking-Piret equation for product formation and a Luedeking-Piret-like equation for substrate uptake. The results predicted from the model were in good agreement with the experimental observations.