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Environmental biodegradation of haloarchaea-produced poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in activated sludge

  • Environmental biotechnology
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A Correction to this article was published on 08 January 2018

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Abstract

Novel poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBHV) copolymers produced by haloarchaea are excellent candidate biomaterials. However, there is no report hitherto focusing on the biodegradation of PHBHV synthesized by haloarchaea. In this study, an environmental biodegradation of haloarchaea-produced PHBHV films, with 10~60 mol% 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) composition and different microchemical structures, was studied in nutrition-depleted activated sludge. The changes in mass, molar mass, chemical composition, thermal properties, and surface morphology were monitored. The mass and molar mass of each film decreased significantly, while the PHA monomer composition remained unchanged with time. Interestingly, the sample of random copolymer PHBHV-2 (R-PHBHV-2) (3HV, 30 mol%) had the lowest crystallinity and was degraded faster than R-PHBHV-3 containing the highest 3HV content or the higher-order copolymer PHBHV-1 (O-PHBHV-1) possessing the highest surface roughness. The order of biodegradation rate was in the opposite trend to the degree of crystallizability of the films. Meanwhile, thermal degradation temperature of most films decreased after biodegradation. Additionally, the surface erosion of films was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The dominant bacteria probably responsible for the degradation process were identified in the activated sludge. It was inferred that the degradation rate of haloarchaea-produced PHBHV films mainly depended on sample crystallinity, which was determined by monomer composition and microchemical structure and in turn strongly influenced surface morphology.

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Change history

  • 08 January 2018

    The published online version contains mistake in the funding information. Instead of 30370096, it should have been 31370096.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31330001 and 30370096) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS under Grant No. 2015070. L-P. Wu also acknowledges the financial support by Collaborative Innovation Environment and Platform Foundation of Guangdong Province (2015A050502002) and International Science & Technology Cooperation Platform Program of Guangzhou (201504291158057).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Bin Liu, Jun-Yu Chen, Jing Han & Hua Xiang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Bin Liu & Jun-Yu Chen

  3. Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lin-Ping Wu

  4. Guangzhou RiboBio Co., Ltd, Guangzhou, 510663, People’s Republic of China

    Lin-Ping Wu

  5. School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Hou

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  1. Xiao-Bin Liu
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Correspondence to Jing Han or Hua Xiang.

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A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-018-8735-9.

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Liu, XB., Wu, LP., Hou, J. et al. Environmental biodegradation of haloarchaea-produced poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in activated sludge. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 6893–6902 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7528-2

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