Revealing nutritional requirements of MICP-relevant Sporosarcina pasteurii DSM33 for growth improvement in chemically defined and complex media

Microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) based on ureolysis has a high potential for many applications, e.g. restoration of construction materials. The gram-positive bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii is the most commonly used microorganism for MICP due to its high ureolytic activity. However, Sporosarcina pasteurii is so far cultivated almost exclusively in complex media, which only results in moderate biomass concentrations at the best. Cultivation of Sporosarcina pasteurii must be strongly improved in order to make technological application of MICP economically feasible. The growth of Sporosarcina pasteurii DSM 33 was boosted by detecting auxotrophic deficiencies (L-methionine, L-cysteine, thiamine, nicotinic acid), nutritional requirements (phosphate, trace elements) and useful carbon sources (glucose, maltose, lactose, fructose, sucrose, acetate, L-proline, L-alanine). These were determined by microplate cultivations with online monitoring of biomass in a chemically defined medium and systematically omitting or substituting medium components. Persisting growth limitations were also detected, allowing further improvement of the chemically defined medium by the addition of glutamate group amino acids. Common complex media based on peptone and yeast extract were supplemented based on these findings. Optical density at the end of each cultivation of the improved peptone and yeast extract media roughly increased fivefold respectively. A maximum OD600 of 26.6 ± 0.7 (CDW: 17.1 ± 0.5 g/L) was reached with the improved yeast extract medium. Finally, culture performance and media improvement was analysed by measuring the oxygen transfer rate as well as the backscatter during shake flask cultivation.