Darshan Marjadi and Nishith Dharaiya
Polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHAs) are biodegradable polymers produced by microbes to overcome environmental stress condition. Commercial production of PHAs due to its high cost is limited compared to that of conventional polymers. Another hindrance is the brittle nature and low strength of Poly-3-Hydroxybutyric Acid (PHB), the most widely studied PHA. The needs are to produce PHAs, which have better elastomeric properties suitable for biomedical applications, preferably from inexpensive renewable sources to reduce cost. Certain unique properties of Bacillus subtilissuch as lack of the toxic lipo-polysaccharides, expression of self-lysing genes on completion of PHA biosynthetic process – for easy and timely recovery, usage of bio wastes as feed enable it to compete as potential candidate for commercial production of PHB. Bacillus subtiliswas found to produce PHB and the amount of PHB produced was estimated under various conditions like pH, temperature, and also using different substrates. The amount of PHB produced was estimated by reading the absorbance at 235nm as well as data is studied by using statistical analysis. When relationship between oil consumption and cell growth were studied 5 g/L soybean oil was considered as suitable due to highest producuction of CDW and PHB content (13.1 g/L) and (87 wt%) respectively
