Growth of Bacillus methanolicus in seawater-based media

Bacillus methanolicus has been proposed as a biocatalyst for the low cost production of commodity chemicals. The organism can use methanol as sole carbon and energy source, and it grows aerobically at elevated temperatures. Methanol can be made available from off-shore conversion of natural gas to methanol, through gas-to-liquid technology. Growth of the organism in seawater-based medium would further reduce the costs of chemical production performed near an off-shore natural gas source. The growth of strain PB1 (ATCC 51375) in shake flask experiments with trypticase soy broth medium showed minimal salt-inhibition at the concentration of NaCl in seawater. The ability of B. methanolicus PB1 to grow in Pacific Ocean water using methanol as a carbon and energy source was also tested. Following a simple adaptation procedure, PB1 was able to grow on methanol in semi-defined medium with 100% seawater with good growth yields and similar growth rates compared with those achieved on media prepared in deionized water.