Production and characterization of rhamnolipids from Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai

Production and characterization of rhamnolipid biosurfactant obtained by strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai was investigated. With regard to carbon and nitrogen source several media were tested to enhance production of rhamnolipids. Phosphate-limited proteose peptone-ammonium salt (PPAS) medium supplemented with sun flower oil as a source of carbon and mineral ammonium chloride and peptone as a nitrogen source greatly improved rhamnolipid production, from 0.15 on basic PPAS (C/N ratio 4.0), to 3 g L-1, on optimized PPAS medium (C/N ratio 7.7). Response surface methodology analysis was used for testing effect of three factors: temperature, concentration of carbon and nitrogen source (w/w), in optimized PPAS medium on rhamnolipid production. Isolated rhamnolipids were characterized by IR and ESI-MS. IR spectra confirmed that isolated compound corresponds to rhamnolipid structure, whereas MS indicated that isolated preparation is a mixture of mono-rhamno-mono-lipidic, mono-rhamno-di-lipidic- and dirhamno- di-lipidic congeners