Development of a Media for Fermentative Production of Lipase by Polymeric Flocculant Producing Bacteria

Abstract

The present study investigated the fermentative production of lipase by an extracellular polymer producing strain of bacteria in a media formulated from agro resources. The media which comprised of corn, garlic and onion possessed desirable attributes including optimal C:N ratio and sulphur as constituents. One bacterial strain capable of extracellular polymer production was assessed for lipolytic activity. Under UV light at 350nm light this strain produced strong orange fluorescent colonies on Rhodamine B agar plates upon irradiation under was selected and grown on the developed media. Maximum lipase activity was observed in this growth medium with 0.5% olive oil, 0.5% yeast extract and 1% gum Arabic under shaking conditions at 37°C. The lipase was predominantly extracellular and had optimal pH of 6.5 and temperature of 30°C. RSM was used to validate the optimisation of culture parameters for lipase production. Enhanced polymer yields were observed during lipase production; the purified polymer were subjected to FTIR and SEM to characterize the biopolymer; results indicated no significant (p<0.05) difference of its characteristics with that produced by the same culture in reference media. The extracellular polymer demonstrated excellent flocculating activity against a wide range colloidal particles. Overall, the present study indicate that production of both lipase and polymeric flocculant could be achieved by the selected bacterial strain economically in the developed vegetable media. The relevance of the newly developed media for fermentative production and its commercial relevance is suggested.