Effects of Selenium on the Growth and Fermentation Properties of Se-Enriched Bacillus SubtilisJ-2

This paper describes the effect of sodium selenite on the growth and fermentation properties of Bacillus subtilisJ-2 (BSJ-2) which was isolated from the water of Chinese fermented pickles. The results of the optimum Se-added conditions are as follows: addition concentration 45g/mL, addition time 4h and inoculation quantity 2%. At this site, the Se conversion ratio was 73.83.4%. With the increasing of selenium concentration, the alkaline protease activity has a slight increase at the optimum growth conditions, while the variation of the neutral protease activity had no significant difference among the five samples in the 1,000-1,100g/mL range. Added selenium had a positive impact on the antimicrobial ability of strains. Practical ApplicationsThe increasing popularity of Se-enriched microorganism among food preservatives and food fermentation was well concerned about in the recent years. The present study has demonstrated that Bacillus subtilis has a suitable Se-enriched condition and can enhance the growth and protease activities applied in food fermentation which can promote efficiency and cost savings. Health-promoting effect is shown through the relatively high conversion on Se-enriched Bacillus subtilisJ-2. It is expected that Se-enriched B.subtilisJ-2 could be applied in food industries as an antiseptic agent to improve the antimicrobial ability. Our previous studies demonstrated that Se-enriched B.subtilis can be applied as a safe and healthy potential dietary resource of nontoxic selenium to food fermentation and effective functional substance in food and medical industry.