Abstract
Bacillus subtilis natto is the key microorganism for the industrial production of menaquinone-7. The fermentation of this bacterium in static culture is associated with biofilm formation. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of biofilm formation on menaquinone-7 production to develop a suitable bio-reactor for the production of menaquinone-7. In the static culture, menaquinone-7 biosynthesis showed a linear correlation with biofilm formation (R 2 = 0.67) and cell density (R 2 = 0.7). The amount of biofilm, cell density and menaquinone-7 formation were a function of nutrient and processing conditions. Glycerol, soy peptone, and yeast extract mixture and 40 °C were found to be the optimum nutrients and temperature for accelerating both biofilm and menaquinone-7 biosynthesis in static culture. However, glucose, mixture of soy peptone and yeast extract and 45 °C were found to be the optima for cell density. As compared to the static culture, the biofilm formation was significantly inhibited when a shaken fermentation was used. However, shaking caused only a small decrease on menaquinone-7 production. These results demonstrate that the biofilm formation is not essential for menaquinone-7 biosynthesis. This study underlines the feasibility of using large scale stirred fermentation process for menaquinone-7 production.
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Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the Australian Research Council and Agricure Scientific Organics through the ARC Linkage Project (LP100100347). Authors are grateful to Prof. George A. O’Toole (Dartmouth Medical School), Prof. Jeffrey Kaplan (University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey), and Prof. Ali Demirci (The Pennsylvania State University) for their helpful suggestions on biofilm studies. We also acknowledge the technical support of Ms Elizabeth Dobrinsky, analytical support by Mr Peter Valtchev and SEM analysis by Mr Ali Negahi Shirazi from the University of Sydney.
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Berenjian, A., Chan, N.LC., Mahanama, R. et al. Effect of Biofilm Formation by Bacillus subtilis natto on Menaquinone-7 Biosynthesis. Mol Biotechnol 54, 371–378 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-012-9576-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-012-9576-x