The influence of nutrient limitation on polyhydroxyalkanoate
(PHA) accumulation was studied using a
novel PHA-producing strain of
Enterobacter
sp. The effect
of N/C ratio on growth and accumulation of PHA was
studied by varying the ratio from 0.02 to 0.1. Biomass
concentration, dry cell weight, protein content and the
amount of PHA accumulated were estimated for each N/C
ratio. It was found that the increase in N/C ratio resulted in
increase in culture concentration up to 3.25 g/l of dry cell
weight. Polyhydroxyalkanoate concentration was found to
be maximum at N/C ratio of 0.04 (67.8 μg/ml), and further
increase in N/C ratio resulted in lesser amount of PHA.
Analytical procedures such as FTIR and NMR were done
to validate the obtained PHA biopolymer.
