Introduction: The last four decades have recognized the critical environmental issues pertaining to the use of non-degradable synthetic plastics. Currently, the synthesis of biodegradable polymers, like polyhydroxyalkaonoates (PHA) has been gaining considerable interest as a sustainable approach to overcome these issues. The current study was carried out with an objective to optimize the PHA production from BACILLUS MEGATERIUM JHA. Materials and Methods: Various nutritional and physico-chemical parameters were optimized using the ‘ one factor at a time’ approach. The findings were analysed statistically by one-way ANNOVA and linear regression using the open-source R software. Results: The optimum physico-chemical parameters for maximum PHA production were attained when 5% inoculum size of B. MEGATERIUM JHA was added to the JHA medium (pH 8) and incubated at 28 ° C for 96 h under shaker conditions (120 rpm). The nutritional parameters were further optimized by addition of 0. 6 g% K2HPO4, 0. 4 g% KH2PO4, 21 g% glucose, 12. 5 mM microcosmic salt, 0. 04 g% KNO3, 1 mM MgSO4, and 2 ml trace elements to the JHA medium. The C: N and C: P ratio was adjusted to 70: 1 and 20: 1 respectively. The growth of bacteria under these optimized parameters allowed 13. 71 g/L accumulation of PHA leading to a yield of 54. 51%. This resulted in 66. 88% increase in yield as compared to the original medium. The scale-up study using a 2 L fermenter further increased PHA accumulation by 4. 39% under optimized conditions. Conclusions: The above results clearly indicate that B. MEGATERIUM JHA is a promising isolate that can be exploited for the industrial production of PHA.

Background: Cellulase is one of the enzymes commonly used in several agricultural, industrial and sewage sludge treatment processes. The present study aimed to investigate the potential use sludge generated from sewage treatment plants as a production medium for cellulase by B. MEGATERIUM strain that was isolated from a sewage treatment plant. The production of cellulase in the sludge medium was compared to different cellulosic materials: cotton, filter paper, bagasse and sawdust as well as to galactose, fructose, lactose, maltose, mannitol, mannose, ribose, sucrose and xylose. The production of cellulase was conducted at optimum conditions (0.4 mL of the bacterial inoculum, 45oC, 72 h, pH 6.5 and citrate phosphate buffer) that were determined in this study.Results: The sludge medium has induced the cellulase production byB. MEGATERIUM strain compared to cotton, filter paper, bagasse and sawdust. However, B. MEGATERIUM produced high cellulase in the presence of carbohydrate compounds as carbon source. More cellulase was produced in the sludge medium containing low concentrations of Ni2+, Zn2+ and Cu2+ ions.Discussion: The ability of B. MEGATERIUM strain to produce cellulase in the sewage sludge medium was due to that the strain has acclimatized to resist heavy metals and produce the enzyme genetically. Moreover, B. MEGATERIUM has an important environmental role for reuse of sewage sludge as production medium for cellulase that could be used in many of applications, including production of animal feed, formulation of detergents, juice clarification, paper industry and wine production.

The gene grmA of BACILLUS MEGATERIUM ATCC 12872 encodes a protein responsible for early spore germination events. In order to determine whether a homologuous of the grmA is present in B. cereus chromosome, a PCR cloning strategy with degenerate primers was exploited. The amplicon with the expected size was purified, cloned into two different B. subtilis integrational vectors, and sequenced. Analysis of the cloned DNA using tBLASTn revealed high homology to B. magaterium grmA. This is the first report of identification of a grmA homologue in B. cereus. We suggest that grmA genes family has a common function in spore germination of both B. MEGATERIUM and B. cereus. It would be interesting to investigate the role of an antiporter in the complicated process of spore germination.    

Background & objectives: Billions of chickens are consumed annually in the world and about billions of tons of chicken feathers are produced. About 5 to 7 percent of the chicken's weight is feather and about 90 percent of the feathers are keratin. Feather is a pure keratin protein that is highly insoluble and difficult to break down. Some bacteria have the ability to produce the keratinase enzyme to break down keratin. The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting the growth of SKH14-isolated bacilli megatrium strain SKH14 and to measure the enzymatic activity of keratinase. Methods: Soil samples were collected in sterile plastic containers. Seven bacterial isolates were grown on a specific environment, of which 5 showed clear decomposition and were selected for biochemical tests, 16S rRNA sequencing and keratin measurement activity. These five bacteria were then sequenced and GeneBank accession number was assigned for each of them as a new strain. Five bacteria were tested for keratinase production and the strongest strain was optimized for keratinase production. Results: Five isolates were belonged to different strains of bacilli, and all five isolates were feather decomposer at different times. The highest enzymatic activity was reported in BACILLUS MEGATERIUM SKH14 with 18. 01 units per ml and the lowest in BACILLUS felexus SKH4 with 10. 81 units per ml. Conclusion: The complete decomposition of BACILLUS MEGATERIUM SKH14 isolate showed that this bacterium has high protease activity and is able to decompose complete keratin.