Production and Optimization of Polyhydroxyalkaonoate Obtained from Bacillus megaterium JHA

Introduction: the last four decades have recognized the critical environmental issues pertaining to the use of non-degradable synthetic plastics. currently, the synthesis of biodegradable polymers, like polyhydroxyalkaonoates (pha) has been gaining considerable interest as a sustainable approach to overcome these issues. the current study was carried out with an objective to optimize the pha production from bacillus megaterium jha.materials and methods: various nutritional and physico-chemical parameters were optimized using the ‘one factor at a time’ approach. the findings were analysed statistically by one-way annova and linear regression using the open-source r software.results: the optimum physico-chemical parameters for maximum pha production were attained when 5% inoculum size of b. megaterium jha was added to the jha medium (ph 8) and incubated at 28 °c for 96 h under shaker conditions (120 rpm). the nutritional parameters were further optimized by addition of 0.6 g% k2hpo4, 0.4 g% kh2po4, 21 g% glucose, 12.5 mm microcosmic salt, 0.04 g% kno3, 1 mm mgso4, and 2 ml trace elements to the jha medium. the c:n and c:p ratio was adjusted to 70:1 and 20:1 respectively. the growth of bacteria under these optimized parameters allowed 13.71 g/l accumulation of pha leading to a yield of 54.51%. this resulted in 66.88% increase in yield as compared to the original medium. the scale-up study using a 2 l fermenter further increased pha accumulation by 4.39% under optimized conditions.conclusions: the above results clearly indicate that b. megaterium jha is a promising isolate that can be exploited for the industrial production of pha.