Poly-3-hydroxybutyratc production and changes of bacterial community in the soil

Changes in the number of bacteria and relative distribution of strains producing poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) in soil were investigated. Samples of chernozem soil were cul tivated with glucose in the presence of a mineral nitrogen source (diammonium hydrogen phos phate) or in its absence, either in a batch or a heterocontinuous cultivation system. In both cultivation systems the addition of glucose resulted in a roughly ten-fold increase of bacteria concentration and an increase in the proportion of strains able to produce PHB granules. When the nitrogen source was added simultaneously with glucose, the concentration of bacteria increased by two orders of magnitude in both cultivation systems. In the batch system changes in the concentration of strains capable of PHB production were very small under these con ditions whereas in the heterocontinuous system their number decreased by almost 50 %. The survival of bacteria in the soil suspension after 57-d starvation was associated with PHB production which differed, depending on the previous treatment of the soil samples. The concentration of bacteria decreased least pronouncedly in the control with water and most significantly during cultivation with glucose and a nitrogen source, where the initial PHB content was very low in spite of high numbers of bacteria.