Biochemical and nutritional characterization of the medfly gut symbiont Enterobacter sp. AA26 for its use as probiotics in sterile insect technique applications

BACKGROUND: Enterobacter sp. AA26 was recently isolated from the midgut of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and it was shown to have positive effects in rearing efficiency when used as larval probiotics. In this study, biomass production was carried out in bench-scale bioreactors to elucidate the biokinetic properties of Enterobacter sp. AA26 and its nutritional value. RESULTS: Strain AA26 is a psychrotolerant, halotolerant, facultatively anaerobic bacterium with broad pH range for growth (pH 4 to 10.2), which possessed the typical biochemical profile of Enterobacter spp. The specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) was calculated as 63.2 ± 1.26 and 121 ± 1.73 mg O(2) g(− 1) VSS h(− 1), with the yield coefficients in acetate and glucose being equal to 0.62 ± 0.03 and 0.67 ± 0.003 g biomass produced/g substrate consumed, respectively. The maximum specific growth rate (μ(max)) of strain AA26 grown in fill-and-draw bioreactors at 20 °C and 35 °C was 0.035 and 0.069 h(− 1), respectively. Strain AA26 grew effectively in agro-industrial wastewaters, i.e. cheese whey wastewater (CWW), as alternative substrate for replacing yeast-based media. Biomass of strain AA26 could provide all the essential amino acids and vitamins for the artificial rearing of C. capitata. Greater intracellular α- and β-glucosidase activities were observed during growth of strain AA26 in CWW than in yeast-based substrate, although the opposite pattern was observed for the respective extracellular activities (p < 0.01). Low protease activity was exhibited in cells grown in yeast-based medium, while no lipase activities were detected. CONCLUSIONS: The ability of strain AA26 to grow in agro-industrial wastes and to provide all the essential nutrients can minimize the cost of commercial media used for mass rearing and large scale sterile insect technique applications.