DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROCESSING STRATEGIES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DAPTOMYCIN BY FREE AND IMMOBILIZED CELLS OF STREPTOMYCES ROSEOSPORUS USING NON-CONVENTIONAL SUPPORT MATRICES

The emergence of novel antibiotics against the upsurge of “Superbugs” is a breakthrough health intervention. Daptomycin has gained prominence as a novel antibiotic produced by Streptomyces roseosporus which has demonstrated a broad spectrum of activity in vitro against a wide range of aerobic and anaerobic gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci. The economic viability and large scale applicability of this high-value secondary metabolite is hampered by its poor production and tedious growth of S.roseosporus. The present study aims at strategic improvement of Daptomycin yield through reusability of the producer strain by its immobilization onto various non-conventional support matrices. Sufficient void volume, permeability, and cost effectiveness prompted the use of ultra porous refractory brick and ceramic foam for the immobilization of S.roseosporus. The surface area and porosity of the materials were characterized by BET surface analysis. Morphological transformations of the microbial cells were observed microscopically over the time. The cell mass adhered to the carrier was determined using SEM. The repeated use of immobilized cells led to high production in case of immobilized cells by refractory brick and ceramic foam i.e 336mg/L and 260mg/L respectively in lesser time than the free cells. Enhanced Daptomycin production was achieved by using refractory brick as immobilization carrier under submerged conditions. They showed high mechanical strength and reusability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on immobilization strategy for Daptomycin production. Thus, this preliminary study can further contribute to the industrial scale production of Daptomycin.