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Biosynthesis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (P(HB-co-HHx)) from butyrate using engineered Ralstonia eutropha

  • Biotechnological products and process engineering
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Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a promising family of bio-based polymers, are considered to be alternatives to traditional petroleum-based plastics. Copolymers like poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (P(HB-co-HHx)) have been shown to exhibit favorable physical and mechanical properties, due to decreased crystallinity resulting from the presence of medium-chain-length 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx) monomers. In this study, we produced P(HB-co-HHx) using engineered Ralstonia eutropha strains containing deletions of the acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (phaB) genes and replacing the native PHA synthase with phaC2 from Rhodococcus aetherivorans I24 and by using butyrate, a short-chain organic acid, as the carbon source. Although the wild-type R. eutropha did not produce P(HB-co-HHx) when grown on mixed acids or on butyrate as the sole carbon source, we are able to produce polymer containing up to 40 wt% 3HHx monomer with the aforementioned engineered R. eutropha strains using various concentrations of just butyrate as the sole carbon source. This is the first report for the production of P(HB-co-HHx) copolymer in R. eutropha using butyrate.

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Acknowledgments

The work at Konkuk University was partially supported by the Energy Efficiency & Resources of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning(KETEP) grant funded by the Korea Government Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (20133030000300). This research was also partially supported by Polar Academic Program (PAP, PD13010) from KOPRI and “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (Project title: Isolation and identification of rhizobacteria for indoor VOCs removal, Project No. 010205022014)” Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea. We thank Mr. John W. Quimby for review of this manuscript prior to submission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbial Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea

    Jong-Min Jeon, Yong-Hyun Kim, Hyun-Joong Kim, Da-Hye Yi & Yung-Hun Yang

  2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA, 02747-2300, USA

    Christopher J. Brigham

  3. Department of Organic and Nano System Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University, 1 Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-701, Korea

    Hyungsup Kim

  4. Biomaterials Science and Engineering Laboratory, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    ChoKyun Rha

  5. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Anthony J. Sinskey

  6. Division of Health Sciences Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Anthony J. Sinskey

  7. Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Anthony J. Sinskey

  8. Institute for Ubiquitous Information Technology and Applications (CBRU), Konkuk University, Seoul, 143-701, South Korea

    Yung-Hun Yang

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  1. Jong-Min Jeon
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Correspondence to Yung-Hun Yang.

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Jeon, JM., Brigham, C.J., Kim, YH. et al. Biosynthesis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (P(HB-co-HHx)) from butyrate using engineered Ralstonia eutropha . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 5461–5469 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-5617-7

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