A simple procedure for recovering biodegradable polymer from bacterial cells has been developed using economical and environmentally friendly solvent or chemicals. Recombinant bacterium, Cupriavidus necator harboring pBBR1MCS-C2 plasmid polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase gene was used for the production of copolymer P(3HB-co-3HHx) from crude palm kernel oil (CPKO). NaOH was chosen in this study as it could give high purity and recovery yield. Increase of NaOH concentration had resulted in an increase of the PHA purity, but the recovery yield had decreased. The greater improvement of PHA purity and recovery were achieved by incubating the freeze-dried cells (10-30 g/L) in NaOH (0.1 M) for 1-3 h at 30°C and polishing using 20% (v/v) of ethanol. The treatment caused negligible degradation of the molecular weight of PHA recovered from the bacterial cells. The present review also highlights other extraction methods to provide greater insights into economical and sustainable recovery of PHA from bacterial cells.
The potential of plant oils as sole carbon sources for production of P(3HB-co-3HHx) copolymer containing a high 3HHx monomer fraction using the recombinant Cupriavidus necator strain Re2160/pCB113 has been investigated. Various types and concentrations of plant oils were evaluated for efficient conversion of P(3HB-co-3HHx) copolymer. Crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) at a concentration of 2.5 g/L was found to be most suitable for production of copolymer with a 3HHx content of approximately 70 mol%. The time profile of these cells was also examined in order to study the trend of 3HHx monomer incorporation, PHA production and PHA synthase activity. (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR analyses confirmed the presence of P(3HB-co-3HHx) copolymer containing a high 3HHx monomer fraction, in which monomers were not randomly distributed. The results of various characterization analyses revealed that the copolymers containing a high 3HHx monomer fraction demonstrated soft and flexible mechanical properties.
A new halogen-free and environmental-friendly method using water and ethanol is developed as an alternative for the recovery of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from recombinant Cupriavidus necator in comparison to the established chloroform extraction method. After optimisation, our results showed that the halogen-free method produced a PHA with 81% purity and 96% recovery yield, in comparison to the chloroform extraction system which resulted in a highly pure PHA with 95% yield. Although the purity of the PHA using the new method is lower, the molecular weight of the extracted PHA is not compromised. This new method can be further developed as an alternative and more environmental-friendly method for industrial application.
A novel polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-producing bacterium, Jeongeupia sp. USM3 (JCM 19920) was isolated from the limestone soil at Gua Tempurung, Perak, Malaysia. This is the first report on the complete genome sequence for the genus Jeongeupia. This genome consists of a circular chromosome with a size of 3,788,814 bp and contains 3557 genes. Two PHA synthase (phaC) genes encoding for the key enzyme in the polymerization of PHA monomers and other PHA-associated genes were identified from the genome. Phylogenetic analysis of the PhaC protein sequences has revealed that both PhaC1 and PhaC2 of Jeongeupia sp. USM3 are categorized as Class I PHA synthases with 56% similarity to each other. Both of the PHA synthase genes of this isolate were cloned and heterologously expressed in a PHA mutant strain Cupriavidus necator PHB-4. The ability of the transformants to accumulate PHA showed that both PhaC1 and PhaC2 were functional.
Hookworm infections are still endemic in low and middle income tropical countries with greater impact on the socioeconomic and public health of the bottom billion of the world's poorest people. In this study, a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with high resolution melting-curve (HRM) analysis was evaluated for an accurate, rapid and sensitive tool for species identification focusing on the five human hookworm species.
Special features of the Japanese ocean include its ranges of latitude and depth. This study is the first to examine the diversity of Class I and II PHA synthases (PhaC) in DNA samples from pelagic seawater taken from the Japan Trench and Nankai Trough from a range of depths from 24 m to 5373 m. PhaC is the key enzyme in microorganisms that determines the types of monomer units that are polymerized into polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and thus affects the physicochemical properties of this thermoplastic polymer. Complete putative PhaC sequences were determined via genome walking, and the activities of newly discovered PhaCs were evaluated in a heterologous host.
An obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium difficile has a unique metabolic pathway to convert leucine to 4-methylvalerate, in which 4-methyl-2-pentenoyl-CoA (4M2PE-CoA) is an intermediate of this pathway. 4M2PE-CoA is also able to be converted to 3-hydroxy-4-methylvalerate (3H4MV), a branched side chain monomer unit, for synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) copolymer. In this study, to synthesize 3H4MV-containing PHA copolymer from leucine, the leucine metabolism-related enzymes (LdhA and HadAIBC) derived from C. difficile and PHA biosynthesis enzymes (PhaPCJAc and PhaABRe) derived from Aeromonas caviae and Ralstonia eutropha were co-expressed in the codon usage-improved Escherichia coli. Under microaerobic culture conditions, this E. coli was able to synthesize P(3HB-co-12.2 mol% 3H4MV) from glucose with the supplementation of 1 g/L leucine. This strain also produced P(3HB-co-12.6 mol% 3H4MV) using the culture supernatant of leucine overproducer E. coli strain NS1391 as the medium for PHA production, achieving 3H4MV copolymer synthesis only from glucose. Furthermore, we tested the feasibility of the 3H4MV copolymer synthesis in E. coli strain NS1391 from glucose. The recombinant E. coli NS1391 was able to synthesize P(3HB-co-3.0 mol% 3H4MV) from glucose without any leucine supplementation. This study demonstrates the potential of the new metabolic pathway for 3H4MV synthesis using leucine metabolism-related enzymes from C. difficile.
A simple, efficient and economical method for the recovery of P(3HB-co-3HHx) was developed using various chemicals and parameters. The initial content of P(3HB-co-3HHx) in bacterial cells was 50-60 wt%, whereas the monomer composition of 3HHx used in this experiments was 3-5 mol%. It was found that sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was the most effective chemical for the recovery of biodegradable polymer. High polyhydroxyalkanoate purity and recovery yield both in the range of 80-90 wt% were obtained when 10-30 mg/ml of cells were incubated in NaOH at the concentration of 0.1 M for 60-180 min at 30 °C and polished using 20 % (v/v) of ethanol.
Palm kernel oil, palm olein, crude palm oil and palm acid oil were used for the synthesis of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(3HB-co-3HHx)] by a mutant strain of Wautersia eutropha (formerly Ralstonia eutropha) harboring the Aeromonas caviae polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase gene. Palm kernel oil was an excellent carbon source for the production of cell biomass and P(3HB-co-3HHx). About 87% (w/w) of the cell dry weight as P(3HB-co-3HHx) was obtained using 5 g palm kernel oil/l. Gravimetric and microscopic analyses further confirmed the high PHA content in the recombinant cells. The molar fraction of 3HHx remained constant at 5 mol % regardless of the type and concentration of palm oil products used. The small amount of 3HHx units was confirmed by 13C NMR analysis. The number average molecular weight (M(n)) of the PHA copolymer produced from the various palm oil products ranged from 27 0000 to 46 0000 Da. The polydispersity was in the range of 2.6-3.9.
Aquitalea sp. USM4 (JCM 19919) was isolated from a freshwater sample at Lata Iskandar Waterfall in Perak, Malaysia. It is a rod-shaped, gram-negative bacterium with high sequence identity (99%) to Aquitalea magnusonii based on 16S rRNA gene analysis. Aquitalea sp. USM4 also possessed a PHA synthase gene (phaC), which had amino acid sequence identity of 77-78% to the PHA synthase of Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC12472 and Pseudogulbenkiania sp. NH8B. PHA biosynthesis results showed that wild-type Aquitalea sp. USM4 was able to accumulate up to 1.5 g/L of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), [P(3HB)]. The heterologous expression of the PHA synthase gene of Aquitalea sp. USM4 (phaCAq) in Cupriavidus necator PHB(-)4 had resulted in PHA accumulation up to 3.2 g/L of P(3HB). It was further confirmed by (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis that Aquitalea sp. USM4 and C. necator PHB(-)4 transformant were able to produce PHA containing 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV), 4-hydroxybutyrate (4HB) and 3-hydroxy-4-methylvalerate (3H4MV) monomers from suitable precursor substrates. Interestingly, relatively high PHA synthase activity of 863 U/g and 1402 U/g were determined in wild-type Aquitalea sp. USM4 and C. necator PHB(-)4 transformant respectively. This is the first report on the member of genus Aquitalea as a new PHA producer as well as in vitro and in vivo characterization of a novel PHA synthase from Aquitalea sp. USM4.
One of the targets in oil palm genetic engineering programme is the production of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV) in the oil palm leaf tissues. Production of PHB requires the use of phbA (beta-ketothiolase type A), phbB (acetoacetyl-CoA reductase) and phbC (PHB synthase) genes of Ralstonia eutropha, whereas bktB (beta-ketothiolase type B), phbB, phbC genes of R. eutropha and tdcB (threonine dehydratase) gene of Escherichia coli were used for PHBV production. Each of these genes was fused with a transit peptide (Tp) of oil palm acyl-carrier-protein (ACP) gene, driven by an oil palm leaf-specific promoter (LSP1) to genetically engineer the PHB/PHBV pathway to the plastids of the leaf tissues. In total, four transformation vectors, designated pLSP15 (PHB) and pLSP20 (PHBV), and pLSP13 (PHB) and pLSP23 (PHBV), were constructed for transformation in Arabidopsis thaliana and oil palm, respectively. The phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene (bar) driven by CaMV35S promoter in pLSP15 and pLSP20, and ubiquitin promoter in pLSP13 and pLSP23 were used as the plant selectable markers. Matrix attachment region of tobacco (RB7MAR) was also included in the vectors to stabilize the transgene expression and to minimize silencing due to positional effect. Restriction digestion, PCR amplification and/or sequencing were carried out to ensure sequence integrity and orientation.