Investigating the ability of wild and preserved strains of Bacillus subtilis natto to produce menaquinone 7 (vitamin K) and nattokinase

Subject Areas : Molecular Microbiology

Abdolreza karami ¹ , Mohammad Kargar ² , Farshid Kafilzadeh ³ , Ahmad Vaez ⁴ , Alireza Ebrahiminezhad ⁵

1 - PhD Candidate, Department of Microbiology, Jahrom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Jahrom, Iran
2 - Professor, Department of Microbiology, Zand Institute of Higher Education, Shiraz, Iran.
3 - Department of Microbiology, Jahrom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Jahrom, Iran
4 - Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
5 - Assistant Professor

Received: 2025-02-27 Accepted : 2024-06-01 Published : 2024-06-09

Keywords: Bacillus subtilis natto, Menaquinone 7, Nattokinase,

Abstract :

Background and objectives: Bacillus subtilis natto is a valuable microbial strain in pharmaceutical biotechnology due to its high potential in producing menaquinone 7 and the enzyme nattokinase. A collection strain of this bacterium is available in Iran, but long-term storage may have a negative effect on its physiological properties. We decided to compare the ability of this strain to produce biological products with the wild strain (isolated from the natto starter).

Materials and Methods: Japanese Natto fermented food was prepared by purchasing Natto starter from international companies. By diluting the Natto suspension and culturing it, colonies suspected of being Bacillus subtilis were isolated and purified based on colony morphology and staining. Biochemical tests were performed on the isolates as well as molecular identification by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The ability of the wild and collection strains (purchased from the Bioresources Center) to produce menaquinone 7 and nattokinase was compared..

Results: The results showed that the isolated strain was Bacillus subtilis natto. The amount of menaquinone 7 production by this strain and the collection strain did not show a significant difference. The ability to produce nattokinase in the wild strain was significantly higher than in the collection strain.

Conclusion: Long-term storage of the collection strain may have reduced its ability to produce pharmaceutical products, or the collection strain may have been a weak strain from the beginning in terms of pharmaceutical production. Efforts are being made to deposit the isolated wild strain, which has significant ability to produce menaquinone 7 and nattokinase, in domestic microbial collections and make it available to researchers.

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