ABSTRACT
In this investigation, a sugarcane agroecosystem at a coastal tableland, in the northeast of Brazil, was screened to obtain bacteria strains able to synthesize poly-ß-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA), using sucrose as the main carbon source. The potential to synthesize PHA was tested qualitatively by Sudan Black staining of colonies growing in different carbon sources: sucrose, glucose, fructose, propionate and cellulose. In a typical sugarcane crop management system, the plantation is burned before harvesting and vinasse, a by-product of alchohol production, is used in a fertirrigation system causing, probably, selective pressures on the microbiota of natural environments. Eighty-two bacteria strains, belonging to 16 different genera and 35 different species, were isolated. The data showed that 11 strains (ca 13 per cent), nine of which belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, presented a strong Sudan Black staining in several carbon sources tested and, simultaneously, showed multiple resistance to antibiotics. Resistance to antibiotics is an advantageous feature for the biotechnological production of PHAs. The total number of isolates with multiple resistance to antibotics was 73, and 38 (per cent) of them belong to the genus, Pseudomonas. Among the isolates ca, 86 (per cent) and 43 (per cent) grew in the presence of 10-100U/ml of penicillin and/or 100-300 mg/ml of virginiamycin, respectively. These antiotics are utilized in the alcohol distillery we investigated. The results suggest that some agroecosystem environments could be considered as habitats where bacteria are submitted to nutritional unbalanced conditions, resulting in strains with potential ability to produce PHAs, and also, to an increase in the microbial diversity.