[Biological deacidification of wines using lactic-acid bacteria and yeasts]

Based on a study of 200 lactic-acid bacteria monocultures and 30 associating lactic bacteria and yeasts cultures, a stable association was created formed by Leuconostoc oenos, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts, intended for the biological deacidification of wine. Physiology of microorganisms and their effect on the wine chemical composition was studied. By means of selective association, high quality fine wines were produced from the high-acid wines.

[Biosynthesis of vitamins B by the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus in a submerged culture]

The intra- and extracellular contents of vitamins were studied in the course of submerged cultivation of the higher basidial mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.: Fr.) Kummer st. IMBF-1300 on liquid nutrient media. This strain was found to be autotrophic in respect of thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and biotin (vitamin B7), but it failed to synthesize cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12). The composition and pH of the culture medium, containing such complex biostimulating supplements as maize extract and concentrated potato sap noticeably influence the contents of vitamins B1, B5 and B7 in the mycelium, and to a less degree they change the level of the intracellular biosynthesis of vitamins B2 and B6. Higher excretion of vitamins B5, B7 and especially B6 was observed on the semisynthetic media during the postexponential growth. Under experimental conditions vitamins B1 and B2 were accumulated only in the cells. The dry mycelium of P. ostreatus obtained by submerged cultivation on liquid media is a valuable source of B vitamins and, especially, of niacin. Thus the oyster mushroom and other edible mushrooms can be put at one of the top places among food-stuffs by the content of niacin.

[Pattern of growth and metabolism of thermotolerant microorganisms on media containing carbohydrates and hydrocarbons]

Experiments were carried out to examine the growth and metabolism of thermotolerant yeast Candida tropicalis K-41 and bacteria Micrococcus freudenreichii that do not have a single temperature point but instead have an optimal temperature plateau at which the growth rate and biosynthetic activity remain unaltered or change insignificantly. Upon transition from the carbohydrate to the hydrocarbon pattern of nutrition these microorganisms show significant changes in metabolic processes: optimal concentration of biotin in the medium decreases significantly; the synthesis of riboflavin, nicotinic and pantothenic acids increases in yeast; the synthesis of nicotinic acid, biotin and vitamin B12 increases in bacteria. During microbial cultivation on hydrocarbons the content of cell lipids grows; yeast accumulate actively phospholipids and free fatty acids; bacteria build up intensively waxes and phospholipids. With the near-maximal growth rate the total synthesis of lipids decreases on carbohydrates and increases drastically on hydrocarbons, primarily at the expense of the above fractions.