Innovative green chemical production by novel egyptian aquatic bacterial isolates

Over the last decade, lactic acid has attracted great attention as a natural preservative in food and cosmetics. Poly-lactic acid can be used in bioplastic production that can serve as a biobased alternative to oil-derived plastics such as polyethylene and polystyrene. In this study, a total of 16 novel marine lactic acid bacteria isolates were selected from samples collected along the Alexandrian Mediterranean Sea coast of Egypt. Both biochemical characteristics of LAB isolates supported by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and NCBI online database tool showed that the obtained isolates belonged to the genera Pediococcus and Lactobacillus. The results of lactic acid fermentation using those marine isolates revealed improved homo-lactic acid fermentation (100% optically pure lactic acid produced) from low xylose concentration after 24 h at initial pH 5.0 and 50°C. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on marine bacteria as candidates for the production of green chemicals in the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt.