Polyhydroxyalkanoates production by bacteria isolated from a polluted salt-lagoon

The use of waste materials could play an important role in economic production of polyhydroxyalkanoates. Polymer production was studied in many bacteria and recently also in moderately halophilic bacteria, which grow optimally with 3-15% NaCl. Nevertheless, investigations on the phenotypic characteristics of some type strains belonging to the genus Halomonas revealed poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] accumulation in several species. The objective of the present work was to isolate bacteria able to degrade different carbon sources such as glycerol and lactose and to produce PHA at the same time. Since the salt-lagoon of Sottomarina (Venice, Italy) is known to contain many different bacterial species perfectly adapted to utilize a variety of organic substrates, there often occurring as polluting material, an investigation was carried out on the bacterial populations living in such a habitat. By 16S rDNA sequence analysis some isolates were identified as belonging to the genus Halomonas. Here we report preliminary results on the conversion into PHA of glycerol, lactose and waste material containing these carbon sources, by the selected isolates.