Enrichment of Methylocystis dominant mixed culture from rice field for PHB production

Presence of methanotrophs in diverse environmental habitats helps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas like methane. Isolation and culture of undiscovered wealth of methanotrophic organisms can help in exploitation of these organisms in value added products. The present study focuses on the enrichment of methanotroph dominated mixed microbial community by use of three stage strategy of revival, proliferation, and segregation. During the enrichment process amplicon sequencing of 16 s rRNA V3-V4 region showed relative abundance of mixed culture comprising single methanotrophic species of Methylocystis genus (88.92%) along with only three other species. Methylocystis dominant mixed culture (MMI-11) was observed to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). During studies to identify favourable culture conditions, nitrate was found to be preferred nitrogen source for growth and PHA production. Cell growth ability to produce PHA was also evaluated at 14 L fermentor by supplying gas using continuous bubbling and through pressurization in the headspace. The mixed methanotrophic culture was found to accumulate maximum of 22.20% polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) under nitrate limited condition. The molecular weight of PHB was found to be 2.221 × 10⁵ g mol^-1 with polydispersity of 1.82.