Electrofermentation increases concentration of poly γ-glutamic acid in Bacillus subtilis biofilms

Fluctuations in redox conditions in bioprocesses can alter the end-products, reduce their concentration, and lengthen the process time. Electrofermentation enables rapid metabolic modulation of biosynthesis and allows control of redox imbalances in biofilm-based fermentation processes. In this study, electrofermentation is used to boost the production of the bacterial biopolymer poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) from Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051. When compared to control experiments (3.3 ± 0.99 g L⁻¹), the application of an electrode potential E = 0.4 V versus Ag/AgCl results in a more than two-fold increase in the production of γ-PGA (9.13 ± 1.4 g L⁻¹). Using an engineered B. subtilis strain, in which γ-PGA production is driven by isopropyl β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside, electrofermentation improves polymer concentrations from 15.4 ± 1.5 to 23.1 ± 1.6 versus g L⁻¹. These results confirm that electrofermentation conditions can be adopted to increase the concentration of γ-PGA and perhaps other extracellular biopolymers in industrial strains.