Scale-up of recombinant hirudin production from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Scale-up of hirudin production from Saccharomyces cerevisiae from bench-scale to pilot-scale was carried out based on constant volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient (KLa). Fed-batch mode of cultivation using step-wise feeding strategy of galactose was employed for the production of hirudin in a 30-L and a 300-L pilot-scale fermentor. The final hirudin concentrations were achieved 390 mg/L and 286.1 mg/L, and the volumetric productivities were 80.4% and 90.7% with the 30-L and 300-L fermentors, respectively, compared to the productivity of the 5-L bench-scale fermentor.