MALDI-Biotyper as a tool to identify polymer producer bacteria

The methylotrophs bacteria can use methane and methanol as carbon sources to produce biopolymers including the polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) a very promised substitute for the environment contaminant oil-derived polypropylene. This kind of bacteria can be very effective to help to decrease PHB price production and promote its use in substitution of several environment contaminant plastics. The search for methylotroph bacteria able to produce PHB is a very arduous job being necessary to grow all isolates and submit all of them to extraction processes and product characterization. Looking for time reducing and optimization of resources, we tested the Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization technique (MALDI-Biotyper) to identify polymer producer bacteria based on a single isolated colony with success. The results showed here will contribute to speed-up and increase the discoveries of new bacteria strains able to produce PHB and other biopolymers. •Identification of PHB producer bacteria using a single colony•No polymer extraction needed•Can be developed for other polymers