title: Production of surfactin from Bacillus subtilis MZ-7 grown on pharmamedia commercial medium.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Commercial medium (Pharmamedia) was investigated for the production of surfactin by Bacillus subtilis MZ-7. Different media (defined, semi-defined, and complex media) were compared for the production of surfactin after fixing the least influential variables in standardized fermentation conditions. Carbohydrate and nitrogen supplements were also tried to improve production in Pharmamedia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Surfactin production was confirmed using PCR along with other analytical techniques and monitored by RP-HPLC and MALDI-TOF-MS. We found that optimized and brain heart infusion media were best for production of surfactin (280 mg/L) and a relatively comparable production with Pharmamedia (220 mg/L), however, supplementing Pharmamedia with Fe+ (4.0 mM) and sucrose (2 g/L) leads to a maximum production of about (300 mg/L).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cottonseed-derived medium proved to be a suitable substrate for the production of bioactive substances including surfactin, a useful compound in both medical and biotechnological fields. The medium provided not only higher product accumulations but at considerably lower cost with potential for large scale industrial applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e- Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan. muaaz01@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Muaaz Mutaz
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Al-Ajlani
authors.forename: Muhammad Abid
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.forename: Zeeshan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Shahida
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hasnain