[Overproduction of catalase by oxidative stress on Bacillus subtilis WSHDZ-01]

We studied the overproduction of catalase (CAT) by Bacillus sp.WSHDZ-01 by oxidative stress via the feeding of ethanol and the pulse addition of H2O2. By adding 2.0% (V/V) ethanol to the culture broth, the intracellular CAT activity reached 11 151 U/mL, which was 2.5 times than that of the control (4 450 U/mL in flask). By adding 0.3% (V/V) H2O2, more extracellular CAT secreted to the culture broth, and the ratio of extracellular CAT to the total CAT increased to 27%. Based on these results, an oxidative stress strategy combining the ethanol feeding and the pulse addition of H2O2 was developed. With this strategy, the ratio of extracellular CAT to the total CAT reached 82.5%, increased by 18.6% than that of the control (without ethanol and H2O2 addition). CAT production increased to 28 990 U/mL, which was 95.5% higher than the control (14 830 U/mL in 3 L fermentor). The fermentation time decreased to 42 h, which was much shorter than that of adding ethanol or H2O2, and CAT productivity reached 470 U/(mL x h) while the control achieved 396.4 U/(mL x h).