Agar-supported cultivation of Halorubrum sp. SSR, and production of halocin C8 on the scale-up prototype Platotex.

Halorubrum sp. SSR was isolated from a solar saltern in Algeria. The strain exhibited a high antibiotic activity against the indicator strain Natronorubrum aibiense G23, and the bioactive compound showed thermal, acid and alkali stability. SSR was grown on agar-supported cultivation (AgSF) to compare yields and applicability with traditional submerged cultivation. AgSF scale-up was implemented taking benefit from the solid-state cultivation prototype Platotex. This technology leads to high amounts of the target Halocin and facilitate the downstream steps. The antibiotic compound was purified according to a fast efficient procedure including ion exchange chromatography followed by a fractionation on C18 Sep-Pack cartridge. The compound was identified as Halocin C8 according to N-terminal amino acid sequencing and high-resolution mass spectrometry.