A comprehensive view of Bacillus cereus as a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) producer: A promising alternative to Petroplastics

Bacillus cereus is a gram-positive bacterium belonging to the Bacillus genus. It is widespread in several ecological niches and has interesting genetic and metabolic properties that allow the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with suitable physicochemical properties for several biomedical applications. Despite the numerous publications over the last 20 years dedicated to reporting the isolation of this bacterial strain and its PHA productive capacity, more information on several important points (such as biosecurity controls, the use of agro-industrial by-products as substrates for PHAs production, genomic mining strategies, fermentative studies at pilot scale, the propose of novel PHA-recovery protocols based on techno-economic and ecological studies, and certifications of the biopolymer obtained) is still needed before B. cereus could be proposed as a model for the industrial production of these biopolymers. Hence, this review discusses the properties of B. cereus as a potential PHA-producing model and highlights the areas of opportunity for future research on this bacterium.