Abstract
Bioconversion of organic waste into value-added products by a process called syngas fermentation is gaining considerable interest during the last years. Syngas is a gaseous mixture composed mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and smaller quantities of other gases like CO2 that can be fermented by Rhodospirillum rubrum, a natural producer of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). R. rubrum is a highly versatile, purple, non-sulfur bacterium that can grow in a broad range of anaerobic and aerobic conditions. In anaerobiosis, it can utilize CO as carbon and energy source in the presence or absence of light. When exposed to CO, CO dehydrogenase, which catalyzes oxidation of CO into CO2, is induced. Part of the CO2 produced is assimilated into cell material and the remaining CO2, along with the H2, is released into the environment. The protocol below provides detailed information of PHB production during syngas fermentation by R. rubrum at lab scale.
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Acknowledgments
The design of this protocol was supported by the project European Commission SYNPOL no. 311815 [http:\crwww.sympol.org]. We are indebted to Prof. Jose Luis García, the SYNPOL coordinator, for the helpful discussions about this technology.
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Revelles, O., Calvillo, I., Prieto, A., Prieto, M.A. (2015). Syngas Fermentation for Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production in Rhodospirillum rubrum . In: McGenity, T., Timmis, K., Nogales, B. (eds) Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology Protocols. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/8623_2015_168
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/8623_2015_168
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