Microbial biotechnology approaches for the production of exopolysaccharide by Lactobacillus acidophilus with potential application in bioremediation.

Over the last two decades, there is an increasing demand for polysaccharide-producing microbes in various fields of industries such as food, pharmaceutical, and also for bioremediation. However, research on the exopolysaccharide produced by Lactobacillus acidophilus is still limited and the optimization production process of exopolysaccharides does not include a large range of chemical materials. Therefore, this study aimed to optimize the cultivation medium of Lactobacillus acidophilus for high exopolysaccharide production via submerged fermentation. At first, various carbon sources such as xylose, lactose, maltose, fructose, sucrose and glucose were screened using shake flasks. The best carbon source found was lactose with the highest exopolysaccharide production of 2.43 g/L. Next, the experiment was continued by examining the influence of various nitrogen sources, including yeast extract, beef extract, and peptone. The results demonstrated that peptone was the most effective nitrogen source, producing the highest exopolysaccharide amount of 3.25 g/L. In conclusion, it was discovered that Lactobacillus acidophilus in submerged fermentation produced the highest amounts of exopolysaccharides when provided with lactose and peptone as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]