Ovsyankina S.V., Khizhnyak S.V., Abolentseva P.A., Oleynikova E.N.

Biphasic growth of bacteria using vegetable oil as the sole substrate

The growth of four bacterial strains isolated from vegetable oil samples (Mp-2 Bacillus pumilus, Mp-4 Bacillus atrophaeus, Mp-6 Sphingomonas aurantiaca and Mp-7 Microbacterium oxydans) in vegetable oil at +7°C was studied. The previously isolated soil strain Mn5 of Rhodococcus erythropolis, capable of using vegetable oil as the only substrate, was used as an object for comparison. All strains showed the ability to grow in vegetable oil with a minimum generation time of 3.5 hours (Bacillus pumilus MP-2 strain) to 14.9 hours (Bacillus atropheus MP-4 strain). In most cases, the bacterial growth curves had two peaks, that is, they corresponded to biphasic growth. Two models are proposed to explain the observed growth curves.

Keywords: VEGETABLE OIL, BACILLUS PUMILUS, BACILLUS ATROPHAEUS, SPHINGOMONAS AURANTIACA, MICROBACTERIUM OXYDANS, RHODOCOCCUS ERYTHROPOLIS, BIPHASIC GROWTH, COMPUTER MODELING