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Selective bio-oxidation of propane to acetone using methane-oxidizing Methylomonas sp. DH-1

  • Bioenergy/Biofuels/Biochemicals - Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Propane is the major component of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Nowadays, the use of LPG is decreasing, and thus utilization of propane as a chemical feedstock is in need of development. An efficient biological conversion of propane to acetone using a methanotrophic whole cell as the biocatalyst was proposed and investigated. A bio-oxidation pathway of propane to acetone in Methylomonas sp. DH-1 was analyzed by gene expression profiling via RNA sequencing. Propane was oxidized to 2-propanol by particulate methane monooxygenase and subsequently to acetone by methanol dehydrogenases. Methylomonas sp. DH-1 was deficient in acetone-converting enzymes and thus accumulated acetone in the absence of any enzyme inhibition. The maximum accumulation, average productivity and specific productivity of acetone were 16.62 mM, 0.678 mM/h and 0.141 mmol/g cell/h, respectively, under the optimized conditions. Our study demonstrates a novel method for the bioconversion of propane to acetone using methanotrophs under mild reaction condition.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the C1 Gas Refinery Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (2015M3D3A1A01064882).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, 446-701, Republic of Korea

    Dong Hoon Hur, Thu Thi Nguyen & Eun Yeol Lee

  2. Department of Genetic Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, 446-701, Republic of Korea

    Donghyuk Kim

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  1. Dong Hoon Hur
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  2. Thu Thi Nguyen
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  4. Eun Yeol Lee
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Correspondence to Eun Yeol Lee.

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Hur, D.H., Nguyen, T.T., Kim, D. et al. Selective bio-oxidation of propane to acetone using methane-oxidizing Methylomonas sp. DH-1. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 44, 1097–1105 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-017-1936-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-017-1936-x

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