Abstract
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) (Bacillales:Bacillaceae) is a gram-positive bacterium that produces spores, several virulence factors and insecticidal toxins, making this microorganism the most used biopesticide worldwide. The use of inert supports such as polyurethane foam (PUF) in solid cultures has been a great alternative to produce various metabolites, including those produced by Bt. In this study we compared the yields, productivity and quality of the spores by two wild strains of Bt, (Y15 and EA3), grown in media with high substrate concentration in both culture systems: liquid and solid (PUF as solid inert support). Both strains showed 2.5- to 30-fold increases in spore production and productivity in solid culture, which showed an even greater increase when considering the spores retained in the PUF observed by scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, spore produced in solid culture showed up to sevenfold higher survival after a heat-shock treatment, relative to spores from liquid culture. The infectivity against larvae of Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera:Pyralidae) improved also in spores from solid cultures. This comparison showed that the culture of Bt on solid support has clear advantages over liquid culture in terms of the production and quality of spores, and that those advantages can be attributed only to the culture system, as the same media composition was used in both systems.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the financial support of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana for this research. We also thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) for the fellowship granted to B. Flores-Tufiño (CVU 613243). We also thank Dr. Facundo Muñiz-Paredes and Dr. Héctor Escalona-Buendía for the critical reviews on this document.
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The authors received financial support from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.
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BFT designed and performed all experiments and drafted the manuscript. GVG contribute to the discussion and analysis of the data. FFM and OL contribute to the design of the experiments, analysis of the data and final version of the manuscript.
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Flores-Tufiño, B., Figueroa-Martínez, F., Viniegra-González, G. et al. Polyurethane foam as an inert support using concentrated media improves quality and spore production from Bacillus thuringiensis. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 37, 154 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03122-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-021-03122-2