Journal of the Chinese Institute of Chemical Engineers, Vol.32, No.6, 537-545, 2001
Purification of thuringiensin from Bacillus thuringiensis using calcium silicate adsorption and dibasic sodium phosphate desorption methods
Thuringiensin ( P-exotoxin) is a metabolic product derived from Bacillus thuringiensis. This exotoxin is a very effective pesticide and has great potential for replacing synthetic chemical pesticides in the future. In this report, we introduce an improvement in the method of thuringiensin recovery, which is much simpler and more effective than the traditional membrane filtration method. Calcium silicate was used to adsorb thuringiensin from the fermentation broth, with pH adjusted to 5. The conditions for adsorption were optimized to achieve a recovery percentage of up to 89%. After thuringiensin was captured by calcium silicate, the liquid phase was easily removed by means of centrifugation. Subsequently, the thuringiensin was successfully desorbed from calcium silicate by adding a high ionic strength dibasic sodium phosphate solution. We observed that 0.4 M dibasic sodium phosphate (pH 9.2), with a slurry-tosolution ratio of 1:70 (w/v), allowed the maximal amount of thuringiensin to be released from the slurry. This preliminary purified thuringiensin could be quantified by means of capillary electrophoresis and used to formulate the final product. Further purification of thuringiensin was achieved by using semi-preparative HPLC and electrodialysis. The purity of the final product was verified by means of capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry.
Keywords:Bacillus thuringiensis;calcium silicate adsorption;capillary electrophoresis;insecticide;thuringiensin