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. 2025 May 26;17(11):1471.
doi: 10.3390/polym17111471.

Sucrose-Based Screening of a Novel Strain, Limimaricola sp. YI8, and Its Application to Polyhydroxybutyrate Production from Molasses

Yeda Lee  1 , Dohyun Cho  1 , Yuni Shin  1 , Yebin Han  1 , Gaeun Lim  1 , Jongmin Jeon  2 , Jeongjun Yoon  2   3 , Jeongchan Joo  4 , Hwabong Jeong  5   6 , Jungoh Ahn  5   6 , Shashi Kant Bhatia  1   6   7 , Yunghun Yang  1   6   7
Affiliations

Sucrose-Based Screening of a Novel Strain, Limimaricola sp. YI8, and Its Application to Polyhydroxybutyrate Production from Molasses

Yeda Lee et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) is a biodegradable plastic produced by various microbes. Considering the emerging environmental problems caused by plastics, P(3HB) has gained attention as a substitute for conventional plastics. In this study, we isolated a novel P(3HB)-producing microbe, Limimaricola sp. YI8, which utilized sucrose as a cost-effective carbon source for P(3HB) production. Under optimized conditions, Limimaricola sp. YI8 produced 6.2 g/L P(3HB) using sucrose as the sole carbon source. P(3HB) extracted from YI8 exhibited a pinkish color derived from a dye produced naturally by YI8. Films fabricated from extracted P(3HB) polymer were subjected to analyses, including gel permeation chromatography, universal test machine, and differential scanning calorimetry, to determine their physical properties. The obtained values were almost identical to those of P(3HB) films extracted from Escherichia coli and Cupriavidus necator H16. Overall, this study presents the potential of Limimaricola spp. YI8 as a P(3HB)-producing strain and the P(3HB) films extracted from this strain.

Keywords: Cupriavidus necator; Escherichia coli; Limimaricola sp. YI8; differential scanning calorimetry; gel permeation chromatography; polyhydroxybutyrate; universal test machine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Screening the novel polyhydroxybutyrate P(3HB)-producing strain Limimaricola sp. YI8. (A) Screening P(3HB)-producing microbes from the marine environment. Limimaricola sp. YI8 produced 1.8 g/L of P(3HB) with 4 g/L dry cell weight (DCW). (B) Phylogenetic tree of Limimaricola sp. YI8.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Carbon source test. (A) Optimization of carbon source. Cultivation was performed in 14 mL test tubes containing 5 mL of marine broth (MB) medium supplemented with 1% (w/v) of each sugar. After 1% (v/v) inoculation, the cultures were incubated at 30 °C and 200 rpm for 3 days. The highest P(3HB) production (2.31 g/L) was observed with sucrose as a carbon source. (B) Transmission electron microscopy image of Limimaricola sp. YI8.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pareto chart of the 10-factor standard effects on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and dry cell weight (DCW) production. (A) Pareto chart for P(3HB) production. (B) Pareto chart for DCW.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Contour plots showing the effects of independent variables on dry cell weight (DCW) and P(3HB) production.
Figure 5
Figure 5
P(3HB) production using different concentration of molasses as the sole carbon source. DCW: dry cell weight.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Formation of P(3HB)) films by extracting P(3HB) through solvent extraction. E. coli: Escherichia coli; C. necator: Cupriavidus necator.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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