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Formation of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate by a soil microbial community during batch and heterocontinuous cultivation

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Abstract

Glucose added to soil as an extracellular source of carbon and energy was proved to be deposited into an intracellular polymer poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). Untreated soil samples contained PHB amounts corresponding to 1.56 –2.64 μg of crotonic acid per 1 g soil. During batch cultivation after addition of 1 % glucose the PHB content increased by 20-fold after 2 d and then decreased owing to the disappearance of glucose from the soil. Repeated additions of glucose did not bring about any significant increase in PHB content as compared with a single addition. In soil supplied continuously with 0.1 or 0.25 % glucose solution, the content of PHB increased, after an initial lag, gradually up to the 10th day. After 1-d cultivation the content of PHB in the batch system increased even in the presence of diammonium hydrogen phosphate. In a heterocontinuous system no PHB accumulation took place in the presence of this source of nitrogen and phosphorus as long as the C:N ratio of theadded substrate was 10: 1.

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Hanzlíkova, A., Jandera, A. & Kunc, F. Formation of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate by a soil microbial community during batch and heterocontinuous cultivation. Folia Microbiol 29, 233–241 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02877314

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