• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.680-691
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• 2023

Peak oil, climate change, and microplastics caused by the production and usage of petroleum-based plastics have threatened the sustainability of our daily life, and this has emerged as a recent global issue. To solve this global issue, the production and usage of biodegradable eco-friendly bioplastics such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has been suggested as an alternative. Therefore, in this review, the present status of global PHA manufacturers, the advantages of the production of PHAs using marine-origin microorganisms (with their productivity potential) and further required research and development strategies for cost-competitive production of PHAs using marine-based microorganisms were investigated. In this review, PHAs produced from marine microorganisms were found to have similar physical properties to petroleum-based plastics but with several advantages that can reduce the costs of PHA production. Those advantages include, seawater used in the medium preparation step, and osmotic-based cell lysis technology used in the separation and purification steps. However, the PHA productivities from marine microorganisms showed somewhat lower efficiencies than those from the commercial strains isolated from terrestrial environments. In order to solve the problem, further research strategies using synthetic microbiology-based technology, the development of long-term continuous culture technology, and solutions to improve PHA efficiency are required to meet future market demands for alternative bioplastics.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.739-740
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• 2005

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.138-145
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• 2015

A series of wholly aromatic poly(hydroxyamide)s(PHAs), containing varying amounts of 2,6-dimethylphenoxy group and quinoxaline ring in the main chain, were synthesized by a direct polycondensation method. The inherent viscosities of the PHAs in either DMAc or DMAc/LiCl solution at $35^{\circ}C$ were found to be in the range of 1.02~1.90 dL/g. In the solubility study, we observed that PHA 1, PHA 2, and PHA 3 were dissolved in aprotic solvents such as DMAc, NMP, DMF, and DMSO with LiCl on heating; however, PHA 4, PHA 5, and PHA 6 could be dissolved in aprotic solvents on heating without LiCl. For poly(benzoxazole)s(PBOs), the 10% and maximum weight loss temperatures were in the range of $582{\sim}622^{\circ}C$ and $630{\sim}659^{\circ}C$, respectively. Residues of PBOs at $900^{\circ}C$ were found to be relatively high, which were in the range of 65.3~70.8%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.853-861
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• 2010

High substrate costs decrease the profitability of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production, and thus low-cost carbon substrates coming from agricultural and industrial residuals are tested for the production of these biopolymers. Among them, crude glycerol, formed as a by-product during biodiesel production, seems to be the most promising source of carbon. The object of this study was to characterize the mixed population responsible for the conversion of crude glycerol into PHAs by cultivation-dependent and -independent methods. Enrichment of the microbial community was monitored by applying the Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis (RISA), and the identification of community members was based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing of cultivable species. Molecular analysis revealed that mixed populations consisted of microorganisms affiliated with four bacterial lineages: ${\alpha}$, ${\gamma}$-Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroides. Among these, three Pseudomonas strains and Rhodobacter sp. possessed genes coding for polyhydroxyalkanoates synthase. Comparative analysis revealed that most of the microorganisms detected by direct molecular analysis were obtained by the traditional culturing method.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.139-141
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• 2001

Medium-chain length polyhydrexyalkanoic acids (MCL-PHAs) degrading bacterium was isolated from the soil. The bacterium was identified as Janthinobacterium lividum by its biochemical properties, cell membrane fatty acids composition, and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The bacterium showed a similarity of 0.911 with J. lividum according to the cell membrane fatty acids analysis and a similarity of 97% in the 16S rDNA requence analysis. Culture supernatant of the bacterium skewed the highest depolymerase activity toward polyhydroxynonanoic acid (PHN) that did not degrade the poly-$\beta$-hydroxybutyric acid (PHB). The esterase activity was also detected with p-nitrophenyl (PNP) esters of fatty acids such as PNP-dodecanoic PNP-dodecanoic acid, PNP-decanoic acid, and PNP-hexanoic acid.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.371-377
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• 2007

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of microbial polyesters that can be produced by fermentation from renewable resources. PHAs can be used as completely biodegradable plastics or elastomers. In this paper, novel applications of PHAs in biosensor are described. A general platform technology was developed by using the substrate binding domain (SBD) of PHA depolymerase as a fusion partner to immobilize proteins of interest on PHA surface. It could be shown that the proteins fused to the SBD of PHA depolymerase could be specifically immobilized onto PHA film, PHA microbead, and microcontact printed PHA surface. We review the results obtained for monitoring the specific interaction between the SBO and PHA by using enhanced green fluorescent protein, red fluorescent protein, single chain antibody against hepatitis B virus preS2 surface protein and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus surface antigen as model proteins. Thus, this system can be efficiently used for studying protein-protein and possibly protein-biomolecule interactions for various biotechnological applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.45-49
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• 1998

The production of unsaturated poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate)s, PHAs, by Pseudomonas oleovorans has been studied extensively in this laboratory$\^$1-3/, and recently a procedure has been developed for the quantitative conversion of the unsaturated groups to epoxide groups$^4$.(omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.41-44
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• 1998

Wholly aromatic polybenzoxazoles (PBO) are well established as high performance materials with excellent thermal stability and mechanical properties. Heterocyclic precursor polymers such as polyhydroxyamides (PHA) have been interested in the field of high performance flame retardant polymers. The PHAs can be converted to PBOs when ignited. (omitted)

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 1993

The polyesters (polyhydroxyalkanoates; PHAs) production capability in a two-step cultivation of Alcaligenes eutrophus H16(ATCC 17699) was investigated by using various organic carbon sources. The carbon sources used included linear $C_2~C_10$ monocarboxylic acids, $C_3~C_10$ dicarboxylic acids, crotonic acid, and several linear vicinal and $\omega$-diols. The polyesters synthesized were characterized by 500 MHz $^1 H-NMR$ spectroscopy, intrinsic viscosity$[\eta]$ measurement in chloroform and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The PHAs synthesis data showed that the use of C-odd ($C_3, C_5, and C_7$) monocarboxylic acids resulted in poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)(P(3HB-co-3HV) (3HV content ranging 40 to 70 mol%) while the use of $C_9$ substrate gave the copolyester containing only 4 mol% of 3HV. All culture products obtained on $C_3$~C$_{10}$ dicarboxylic acids gave exclusively P(3HB). 500 MHz $^1 H-NMR$ analysis showed that all polyesters synthesized generally contained 1~2 mol% 3HV even for the unrelated substrates such as the carboxylic acids with even number of carbon. When $\alpha, \omega$-diols with even number of carbon were used as substrates, 4-hydroxybutyrate(4HB) was inserted into the polyester chain composed of P(3HB-co-4HB). Vicinal diols were generally not utilized by the bacterium for polyester production.n.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.847-853
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• 1999

A Pseudomonas sp. strain that is capable of utilizing dicarboxylic acids as a sole carbon source was isolated from activated sludge by using the enrichment culture technique. This organism accumulated polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with an unusual pattern of monomer units that depends on the carbon sources used. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) homopolyester was synthesized from glucose or small $C_{-even}$ alkanoic acids, such as butyric acid and hexanoic acid. Accumulation of PHB homopolyester was also observed in the cells grown on $C_{-odd}$ dicarboxylic acids, such as heptanedioic acid and nonanedioic acid as the sole carbon sources. In contrast, a copolyester consisting of 6 mol% 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and 94 mol% 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) was produced with a PHA content of as much as 36% of the cellular dry matter. This strain produced PHAs consisting both of the short-chain-length (SCL) and the medium-chain-length (MCL) 3-hydroxyacid units when heptanoic acid to undecanoic acid were fed as the sole carbon sources. Most interestingly, polyester consisting of significant amount of relevant fractions, 3HB, 3HV, and 3-hydroxyheptanoate (3HHp), was accumulated from heptanoic acid. According to solvent fractionation experiments, the polymer produced from heptanoic acid was a blend of poly(3HHp) and of a copolyester of 3HB, 3HV, and 3HHp units. The hexane soluble fractions contained only 3HHp units while the hexane-insoluble fractions contained 3HB and 3HV units with a small amount of 3HHp unit. The copolyester was an elastomer with unusual mechanical properties. The maximum elongation ratio of the copolyester was 460% with an ultimate strength of 10 MPa, which was very different from those of poly(3HB-co-3HV) copolyesters having similar compositions produced from other microorganisms.