Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Services

BOC Sciences is able to provide a variety of microbial fermentation services using Bacillus subtilis as host cells, such as improving strains metabolism, transforming primitive strains into industrialized strains, developing microbial fermentation process, fermentation scale-up, etc. Due to our complete strain development platform and extensive experience in microbial production, we can offer one-stop fermentation services ranging from laboratory fermentation to large-scale microbial manufacturing. Bacillus subtilis is one of the most widely studied bacteria and can serve as a cell factory for industrial production, including enzymes and proteins. Thus, our Bacillus subtilis system can help our customers to achieve industrial-scale fermentation economically.

Introduction of B. subtilis

Bacillus subtilis, abbreviated as B. subtilis, is a Gram-positive, peroxidase-positive bacterium primarily found in soil and vegetation, named by Ferdinand Cohn in 1872. B. subtilis is considered to be a facultative anaerobe. The cellular structure of B. subtilis is usually rod-shaped, and the optimal growth temperature is 25-35 ℃, but they can also withstand extreme environmental conditions up to 80 ℃. Furthermore, B. subtilis contain approximately 4100 genes, 192 are indispensable, and 79 are predicted to be essential. The vast majority of essential genes are classified in the cellular metabolism domain. B. subtilis has proven to be well suited as a laboratory model organism for genetic research, and is widely used to study cell differentiation and bacterial chromosome replication.

Advantages of B. subtilis Fermentation

• Culture: B. subtilis can divide asymmetrically, producing a single endospore that remains viable for decades and is resistant to adverse environmental conditions, such as drought, extreme pH, high salinity, radiation, and organic solvents.
• Production: B. subtilis have simple culturing conditions and can proliferate rapidly; thus it can be used as an industrial microbial strain for protein expression and various small-molecule chemicals.
• Safety: B. subtilis are non-toxic and non-pathogenic strains widely used in feed additives due to their safeties. Enzymes produced by B. subtilis are generally recognized as safe (GRAS).

Application of B. subtilis Fermentation

• B. subtilis produces bioactive chemicals, such as chymotrypsin, polymyxin, myclobacteriocin, and short bacillus peptides during growth, inhibiting pathogenic bacteria or endogenous infections.
• B. subtilis can be used as an industrial strain to biosynthesize and produce a variety of enzymes (such as amylase, lipase, protease, cellulase, etc.), proteins, and vitamins (vitamin B1, B2, B6, niacin, etc.).
• B. subtilis can also be used in wastewater treatment to improve water quality and biofertilizer to promote plant growth. Besides, B. subtilis is widely used as a feed additive in livestock and feed industries, showing great ecological benefits.

Project Workflow of B. subtilis Fermentation

• Customer advisory
• Project discussion
• B. subtilis served as host cell
• Strain improvement and fermentation development
• Novel strain evaluation
• Project delivery

References

1. K. Kobayashi, et al, Essential Bacillus subtilis genes, PNAS, 2003, 100 (8): 4678-4683.
2. Peter T. McKenney, Adam Driks and Patrick Eichenberger, The Bacillus subtilis endospore: assembly and functions of the multilayered coat, Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2013, 11, 33-44.
3. Jeffery Errington and Lizah T van der Aart, Microbe Profile: Bacillus subtilis: model organism for cellular development, and industrial workhorse, Microbiology, 2020, 166(5): 425-427.