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Improving poly-γ-glutamic acid production by Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945a strain under citrate and glutamate pulsed feedings and biopolymer characteristic evaluation

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Abstract

Poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) is a biopolymer composed of glutamate monomers. This polypeptide is used in the food, biomedical, and biopharmaceutical industries. It is used for wound healing and surgical suturing and applied as a drug carrier and drug delivery agent. Fermentative production of this polyamide is a usual method accomplished by microbial cultures. The E culture medium is common for the biopolymers synthesis by Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945a strain because of the high attained production amounts. Nevertheless, in this study, the culture medium E compounds were modified to attain a novel medium for more production of γ-PGA. The next purpose of the research was more production increasing of γ-PGA by using a novel simultaneous pulsed feeding strategy of citrate and glutamate in the modified E medium. Two pulsed feeding times of 24th and 48th hours with proper amounts of citrate and glutamate resulted in enhanced production of γ-PGA to 119.31 g/l, which is the highest amount among previous researches. This polyamide’s physical and chemical structures were investigated by SEM and FTIR, respectively. These analyses revealed a uniform nanostructured polyamide with chemical specifications similar to standard samples.

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Abbreviations

γ-PGA:

Poly-γ-glutamic acid

DO:

Dissolved oxygen

rpm:

Rounds per minute

ME:

Modified E

GPC:

Gel permeation chromatography

OD:

Optical density

DCW:

Dry-cell weight

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

TCA:

Tricarboxylic acid

GABA:

Gamma-aminobutyric acid

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Malek Ashtar University of Technology for providing all the materials and equipment used in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Shabanlou Street, Shahid Babaei Highway, Post Box 15875-1774, Tehran, Iran

    Mehrdad Ebrahimzadeh Kouchesfahani, Ali Bahrami & Valiollah Babaeipour

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  1. Mehrdad Ebrahimzadeh Kouchesfahani
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  2. Ali Bahrami
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  3. Valiollah Babaeipour
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Correspondence to Ali Bahrami.

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Ebrahimzadeh Kouchesfahani, M., Bahrami, A. & Babaeipour, V. Improving poly-γ-glutamic acid production by Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945a strain under citrate and glutamate pulsed feedings and biopolymer characteristic evaluation. Polym. Bull. 79, 11339–11352 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-021-04026-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-021-04026-9

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