Isolation and Screening of Phb Producing Halotolerant Bacterial Strains From A Saline Environment - Isolation and Screening of Phb Producing Halotolerant Bacterial Strains From A Saline Environment - Open Access Pub

Plastic materials have been used as packaging materials and also have other numerous applications because of their durability and stability. Plastic products are non degradable and they continue to exist in the environment thereby causing a serious threat to the ecosystem. Bioplastics which are biodegradable plastics are emerging out as a boon to overcome the problem of plastic accumulation. Polyhydroxybutyrate or PHB is a bioplastic that serves as an alternative to synthetic plastics. PHB is a lipid reserve material that gets accumulated within the cell wall of micro organisms under stress conditions. Halophilic microorganisms can be of much use in the production of PHB as it is cost – effective and recovery of PHB is much easier in halotolerant organisms. Hence this study focuses on the isolation of PHB producing halotolerant bacterial organisms from marine sources. Screening of PHB positive isolates was done by Sudan Black B and Nile blue A staining. Large scale production of PHB by the efficient bacterial strain was done by using wastewater as the substrate. DOI10.14302/issn.2576-6694.jbbs-17-1783 Modernization and progress has its share of disadvantages and one of the main aspects of concern is the pollution it is causing to earth1. Plastic materials that have been universally used in our daily lives are now causing serious environmental problems. Millions of tons of these non-degradable plastics accumulate in the environment every year2. It is clear from this figure that the long term deleterious environmental impacts caused by plastics were entirely overlooked and this in turn poses greater difficulties for plastic waste accumulation3. A number of biodegradable thermoplastic polyesters are emerging out as a boon to overcome the problems of plastic waste accumulation. One of these promising materials is poly ((R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid) (PHB). PHB has been the subject of extensive studies as an environmentally friendly polymeric material4. PHB is a thermoplastic, belonging to the family of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). It is a fully biodegradable polyester with optical activity, piezoelectricity, and very good barrier properties. PHB is a partially crystalline material with high melting temperature and high degree of crystallinity5. PHB is similar to polypropylene with three unique features: thermoplastic processability, 100% resistance to water, and 100% biodegradability6. Microorganisms provide a source of bioplastics and biopolymers (polysaccharides) from renewable sources. Although currently considerably more expensive than plastic derived from