Abstract
Maple sap, an abundant natural product especially in Canada, is rich in sucrose and thus may represent an ideal renewable feedstock for the production of a wide variety of value-added products. In the present study, maple sap or sucrose was employed as a carbon source to Alcaligenes latus for the production of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). In shake flasks, the biomass obtained from both the sap and sucrose were 4.4 ± 0.5 and 2.9 ± 0.3 g/L, and the PHB contents were 77.6 ± 1.5 and 74.1 ± 2.0%, respectively. Subsequent batch fermentation (10 L sap) resulted in the formation of 4.2 ± 0.3 g/L biomass and a PHB content of 77.0 ± 2.6%. The number average molecular weights of the PHB produced by A. latus from maple sap and pure sucrose media were 300 ± 66 × 103 and 313 ± 104 × 103 g/mol, respectively. Near-infrared, 1H magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and 13C-MRI spectra of the microbially produced PHB completely matched those obtained with a reference material of poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid]. The polymer was found to be optically active with [α]25 D equaled to −7.87 in chloroform. The melting point (177.0°C) and enthalpy of fusion (77.2 J/g) of the polymer were also in line with those reported, i.e., 177°C and 81 J/g, respectively.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Ms. Louise Paquet and Chantale Beaulieu, Mrs. Stéphane Deschamps and Alain Corriveau for their technical assistance, and Dr. Diane Fournier for helpful discussion. We are also grateful to Dr. Robert E. Prud’homme, Ms. Julie Boivin, and Mr. Sylvain Essiembre from the Chemistry Department of Montreal University, for carrying out molecular weight and thermal analysis and spectroscopic characterization of biopolymers.
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Yezza, A., Halasz, A., Levadoux, W. et al. Production of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) by Alcaligenes latus from maple sap. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 77, 269–274 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-007-1158-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-007-1158-7