Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
Volume 168, Issue -, Pages 86-92Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.12.015
Keywords
Polyhydroxyalkanoate copolymers; 4-hydroxybutyrate; Bacillus megaterium; Biodegradable plastic
Funding
- United States Department of Agriculture CRIS [5325-41000-054-00D]
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This study engineered a Bacillus megaterium strain to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) (P[3HB-co-4HB]) copolymers, which are useful for various applications due to their lower modulus and increased toughness. The engineered strain was able to produce P(3HB-co-4HB) with >10% mol fraction 4HB from glucose, without the need for expensive precursors or damaging truncation of central biochemical pathways.
Despite being used as a common platform for the commercial production of many biochemicals, Bacilli are often overlooked as a source of industrial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), biodegradable plastic replacements. In addition to having a robust expression system, the lack of lipopolysaccharides and ease of lysis make Bacilli an attractive host for the production of PHAs. In this work, a Bacillus megaterium strain was engineered to generate poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutryate) (P[3HB-co-4HB]) copolymers, which are among the most useful and industrially-relevant copolymers. These copolymers had lower modulus and increased toughness, thus making the copolymer suitable for a broader range of applications. Due to high metabolic flux through succinate, the engineered B. megaterium strain produced P(3HB-co-4HB) with >10% mol fraction 4HB from glucose, without the use of highly regulated and expensive precursors or potentially damaging truncation of central biochemical pathways. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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