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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Accumulation of plastics and other similar compounds have created havoc in the environment. To overcome this situation, an alternative to such petrochemical xenobiotic compounds is the need of the hour. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), belongs to a family of microbial energy storage compounds collectively known as polyhydroxyalkanoates. These are biodegradable and biocompatible polymers that are accumulated as reserve granules by certain microorganisms intracellularly under carbon rich and nitrogen deficient conditions. PHB, as a bioplastic, has proved itself a promising alternative against the non-degradable petroplastics. PHB of biological origin can be completely degraded into carbon dioxide and water. In the present study, different PHB producing microorganisms were isolated from soil using E2 medium and its rapid screening for PHB producers was performed by plate assay method using Sudan Black B dye. Out of 76 different isolates obtained, 34 isolates were found to be positive PHB producers. They were then subjected to spectrophotometric quantitation method described by Jhon and Ralph. The highest producer was identified by biochemical characterization as of Serratia sp. and was optimized with certain parameters for its PHB production. After optimization, PHB production was quantified by two methods, % PHB production against dry cell mass (DCM) and HPLC. Both the methods concluded the production ~37%.