Production of Antimicrobial Metabolites by Bacillus Subtilis Immobilized in Polyacrylamide Gel (Report‪)‬

Byline: M. Awais*, A. Pervez, Asim Yaqub and M.M. Shah Abstract.- Microbial cells can be immobilized on different support matrices to produce a number of metabolites like enzymes and antibiotics. Immobilization is a very useful process because growth and metabolic production can be uncoupled without affecting metabolite yields. The purpose of this study was to optimize fermentation conditions (pH, incubation periods and glucose concentrations) for maximum production of peptide antibiotics from isolated Bacillus subtilis immobilized in polyacrylamide gel and screened for the production of antibiotics by shake flask fermentation at 30oC by checking activity against Micrococcus luteus (ATCC#10240) through antibiotics diffusion assay. Maximum production of peptide antibiotic was optimized at pH 6-9, incubation time 0-144 hours and glucose concentration 1-5 %. Maximum activity was at pH 8 after 4 hrs of incubation, whereas, activity was different at 0 and 4 hrs, at various glucose concentrations.