Enhancement of Polymeric Poly-(β)-Hydroxy Butyrate (PHB) production from Alcaligenes faecalis through the Optimisation process

Abstract

Polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs) are biodegradable polymers synthesised and stored as cytoplasmic inclusions in various bacteria. They have a wide variety of applications in various fields such as Biomedical, food, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries and used as a vehicle for controlled-release drug delivery system. The PHB producing microorganisms were isolated from the dump soil, screened by fluorescence microscope at 490 nm and characterised by 16sRNA sequencing. Process parameters optimisation is performed for maximum PHB production by changing the parameters, viz., temperature, pH, different carbon, and nitrogen source. The isolate showed maximum PHB accumulation in the concentration of 0.07 mg/mL after 72 hours incubation at 35⁰C and in pH 7 showed the maximum concentration of 0.055 mg/mL. FT-IR characterised PHB shows the bands at 3426 cm-1 are due to the presence of C–H methylene and methyl groups and retention time of the peak at 12.39 min was determined HPLC. D- Glucose was found to be the best carbon source for the maximum production of PHB in the concentration of 0.0319 mg/mL and the media supplemented with peptone as the nitrogen source showed the 0.0723 mg/mL is the maximum accumulation of PHB in the cells; thus, the isolate shows the potential of PHB production for further exploitation.