Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from Halomonas pacifica ASL10 and Halomonas salifodiane ASL11 isolated from Mariout salt lakes

Two novel PHA producing bacterial strains were chosen out of 12 strains collected from Mariout salt lakes. Analysis of 16srRNA gene sequence of the two new strains revealed 95.38% and 98.78% similarity to that of Halomonas pacifica and Halomonas salifodiane, respectively. A maximum polymer productivity of 6.9 g/l and 7.1 g/l was recorded by ASL10 and ASL11, respectively. Furthermore, a pH of 7 contributed to the highest polymer production for both strains. Interestingly, both ASL10 and ASL11showed a great ability to tolerate salinity up to 17 g/l NaCL. Moreover, both promising isolates were able to degrade crude oil efficiently by degradation percentages of 69.2% and 67.3% for ASL10 and ASL11, respectively. GCMS, FTIR, NMR, XRD and thermal properties were performed for poly (3 HV-co-3HB) characterization. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.