Cybernetic modeling of growth in mixed, substitutable substrate environments: Preferential and simultaneous utilization

Growth of microorganisms on substitutable substrate mixtures display diverse growth dynamics characterized by simultaneous or preferential uptake of carbon sources. This article shows that cybernetic modeling concepts which were successful in predicting diauxic growth patterns can be extended to describe simultaneous consumption of substrates. Thus the growth of Escherichia coli on mixtures of glucose and organic acids such as pyruvate, fumarate, and succinate has been described successfully by the cybernetic model presented here showing both diauxic and simultaneous uptake when observed. The model also describes the changes in utilization patterns that occur under changing dilution rates, substrate concentrations, and models of preculturing. The model recognizes the importance of the synthesis of biosynthetic precursors in cell growth through a kinetic structure that is quite general for any mixture of carbon-energy sources. (c) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.