Monday, May 5, 2008
7-29

Evaluation of Different Carbon Sources to Surfactin Production by Bacillus subtilis LAMI007

Maria Valderez Ponte Rocha1, Raphaela V. Gomes2, Vania M.M. Melo2, and Luciana R. B. Gonçalves3. (1) Chemical Engineering, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Av. Sen. Salgado Filho 3000, Natal, Brazil, (2) Biology, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, Brazil, (3) Chemical Engineering, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, Bloco 709, Fortaleza, 60455760, Brazil

Biossurfactant are amphiphilic compounds with considerable potential in commercial applications within various industries. Although they have advantages over their chemical counterparts, they are not widely utilized due to high production costs associated with use of expensive substrates and inefficient product recovery methods. Surfactin, one of the most effective cyclic lipopeptides biossurfactant produced for Bacillus subtilis can lower the surface tension of water from 72 to 27 mN.m-1. It can be produced by B. subtilis cultures using sugars, vegetable oils or starch. Therefore, the aim of this work was to develop a growth medium able to stimulate biossurfactant production by B. subtilis LAMI007. A mineral medium (MM) was used as base and it was supplemented with different carbon sources: glucose, fructose, sucrose or Cashew Apple Juice (CAJ), which is rich in reducing sugar (fructose and glucose), fibers, vitamins and minerals salts. Furthermore, the influence of the yeast extract (YE) was also evaluated in the production of surfactin. Batch cultivations were carried out at 180 rpm and 30°C for 96 h. No reduction in the surface tension of the medium free of cells was observed without supplementation with YE. B. subtilis LAMI007 consumed all the carbon sources studied after 48 h. Best result of surfactin concentration (3.50 ± 8.0 x 10-3 mg.L-1) was achieved when mineral media was supplemented with CAJ and YE. The obtained results indicate that cashew apple juice, a co-product of the cashew nut agro-industry, is a suitable and cheap (US$ 0.5/kg) raw material for biossurfactant production.

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