Abstract
Oleaginous microorganisms are regarded as efficient, renewable cell factories for lipid biosynthesis, a biodiesel precursor, to overwhelm the cosmopolitan energy crisis with affordable investment capital costs. Present research highlights production and characterization of lipids by a newly isolated oleaginous bacterium, Sphingomonas sp. EGY1 DSM 29616 through an ecofriendly approach. Only sweet whey [42.1% (v/v)] in tap water was efficiently used as a growth medium and lipid production medium to encourage cell growth and trigger lipid accumulation simultaneously. Cultivation of Sphingomonas sp. EGY1 DSM 29616 in shake flasks resulted in the accumulation of 8.5 g L-1 lipids inside the cells after 36 h at 30 degrees C. Triglycerides of C16:C18 saturated and unsaturated fatty acids showed a similar pattern to tripalmitin or triolein; deduced from gas chromatography (GC), thin layer chromatography (TLC), and Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight-mass spectra analysis (MALDI-TOF-MS) analyses. Batch cultivation 2.5 L in a laboratory scale fermenter led to 13.8 g L-1 accumulated lipids after 34 h at 30 degrees C. Present data would underpin the potential of Sphingomonas sp. EGY1 DSM 29616 as a novel renewable cell factory for biosynthesis of biodiesel.