Application of Co-Culture Technology to Enhance Protease Production by Two Halophilic Bacteria, <i>Marinirhabdus</i> sp. and <i>Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus</i>

• Main Authors: Hoang Thi Hong Anh, Esmaeil Shahsavari, Nathan J. Bott, Andrew S. Ball
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: co-culture; enzyme production; halo-bacteria; protease activity; salinity
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/11/3141

Although axenic microbial cultures form the basis of many large successful industrial biotechnologies, the production of single commercial microbial strains for use in large environmental biotechnologies such as wastewater treatment has proved less successful. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of the co-culture of two halophilic bacteria, <i>Marinirhabdus</i> sp. and <i>Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus</i> for enhanced protease activity. The co-culture was significantly more productive than monoculture (1.6–2.0 times more growth), with <i>Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus</i> being predominant (64%). In terms of protease activity, enhanced total activity (1.8–2.4 times) was observed in the co-culture. Importantly, protease activity in the co-culture was found to remain active over a much broader range of environmental conditions (temperature 25 °C to 60 °C, pH 4–12, and 10–30% salinity, respectively). This study confirms that the co-culturing of halophilic bacteria represents an economical approach as it resulted in both increased biomass and protease production, the latter which showed activity over arange of environmental conditions.