Fig. 2

Preculture procedures for high-throughput screening processes with microtiter plates. Preculture procedures are exemplarily shown using one B. licheniformis strain. The arabic numbers stand for single colonies that were picked from agar plates and transferred into individual wells of a FlowerPlate^®. The main culture represents a batch screening process. Scattered light intensities in the first, second and main culture represent biomass growth over time. a Direct inoculation of batch main culture. The fastest growing colony (colony 20) is indicated with a dashed black line. Colonies showing no growth after 65 h of cultivation (colony 10 and 11) are indicated with a solid black line. b Inoculation of batch main culture with a sequential preculture procedure. The first preculture was harvested after 16 h of cultivation as soon as each colony reached the scattered light plateau. 1% (v/v) of the filling volume, which corresponds to 8 µL, was transferred to the second preculture. The second preculture was harvested after 24 h of cultivation in the late exponential growth phase. 10% (v/v) of the filling volume, which corresponds to 80 µL, was transferred to the main culture. Cultivation conditions: FlowerPlate^®, n = 1000 rpm, d₀ = 3 mm, V_{L, First preculture} = 0.8 mL, V_{L, Second preculture} = 0.8 mL, V_{L, Main culture} = 0.88 mL, 30 °C