(623i) Growth of B. Methanolicus MGA3 In Seawater-Based Media In a Bioreactor

Bacillus methanolicus is a thermotolerant bacterium that utilizes methanol as a sole carbon and energy source.  The production of lysine and glutamic acid have been demonstrated with good yields in bioreactor processes.  Previous work showed that B. methanolicus PB1 can be adapted to media made from artificial seawater instead of pure water.  The use of seawater is advantageous for potential large scale processes that are near a seawater source.  This work demonstrated the adaptation of B. methanolicus MGA3 to the same artificial seawater (ASW) media and further demonstrated that the bacteria can be grown in a bioreactor with ASW media.  The presentation will describe the strategy of adapting the cells to the high salt media and growth in the bioreactor, and also show how the yield of cells on methanol compares in both the standard water-based media and ASW media, based on chemostat culture.  The potential for ASW media to be used in large scale culture will be discussed.