Degradation of corn stover by fungal cellulase cocktail for production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by moderate halophile Paracoccus sp. LL1

Bioprocessing of lignocellulose as a renewable resource for fuels, chemicals or value added products is a necessity to fulfil demands of petroleum products. This study aims to convert corn stover to polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). Corn stover was hydrolyzed to crude sugars by an on-site prepared cellulase cocktail from co-culture of Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger. The potent PHA producer, Paracoccus sp. LL1, was isolated from Lonar Lake, India and could accumulate PHA up to 72.4% of its dry cell weight. PHA production reached 9.71 g/L from corn stover hydrolysate containing 40 g/L sugar mixture. The PHA synthase gene (phaC) sequence of the isolate showed 79% identity with the phaC gene of Paracoccus seriniphilus (E71) strain from the NCBI database. The nature/type of PHA was found to be poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.