초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P><P><B>BACKGROUND</B></P><P>Peptones are one of the most expensive components of microbial culture media. The present study was performed to produce microbial peptone from sheep wool using a new chemical process.</P><P><B>RESULTS</B></P><P>Wool peptone (WP) was found to have high protein (67.8 g per 100 g) and ash (29.2 g per 100 g) contents. Glutamic acid was the most abundant amino acid in WP with a content of 8175 mg per 100 g). Wool peptone (WP) also had a high content (5042 mg per 100 g) of cystine, a sulphur‐containing amino acid. Optimal concentration of WP was determined as 5 g L<B><SUP>−1</SUP></B> for the fungi and 6 g L<B><SUP>−1</SUP></B> for the bacteria. <I>Staphylococcus aureus</I> showed very poor growth performance in WP medium. Growth performances of <I>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</I>, <I>Bacillus subtilis</I> and <I>Penicillium chrysogenum</I> were at moderate levels in WP medium. The best growth performance for <I>Aspergillus niger</I> was observed in WP medium with a biomass production of 8.17 g L<B><SUP>−1</SUP></B>. Second best growth performance for <I>Escherichia coli</I> was achieved with WP among the tested peptones.</P><P><B>CONCLUSION</B></P><P>Wool peptone (WP) was shown to be a good growth substrate, especially for <I>A. niger</I> and <I>E. coli</I>. This is the first investigation on use of wool as peptone source or substrate for microorganisms. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry</P>