• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.200-206
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• 2012

A bacterial strain capable of synthesizing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with an unusual pattern of monomer units was isolated from activated sludge using the enrichment culture technique. The organism, identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa P-5, produced polyesters consisting of 3-hydroxyvalerate and medium-chain-length (MCL) 3-hydroxyalkanoate monomer units when $C_{-odd}$ alkanoic acids such as nonanoic acid and heptanoic acid were fed as the sole carbon source. Solvent fractionation experiments using chloroform and hexane revealed that the 3-hydroxyalkanoate monomer units in these polyesters were copolymerized. The molar concentration of 3-hydroxyvalerate in the polyesters produced were significantly elevated up to 26 mol% by adding 1.0 g/L valeric acid as the cosubstrate. These copolyesters were sticky with low degrees of crystallinity. The PHA synthase genes were cloned, and the deduced amino acid sequences were determined. P. aeruginosa P-5 possessed genes encoding MCL-PHA synthases (PhaC1 and PhaC2) but lacked the short-chain-length PHA synthase gene, suggesting that the MCL-PHA synthases from P. aeruginosa P-5 are uniquely active for polymerizing (R)-3-hydroxyvaleryl-CoA as well as MCL (R)-3-hydroxyacyl-CoAs.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.207-210
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• 2000

Pseudomonas oleovorans was cultivated to produce medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHA) fram octanoic acid and ammonium nitrate as carbon and nitrogen source, respectively, by a pH-stat fed-batch culture technique. The octanoate concentration of the culture broth was maintained below 4 g/L by feeding the mixture of octanoic acid and ammonium nitrate when the culture pH rose above high limit. The effect of the ratio of octanoic acid to ammonium nitrate (C/N ratio) in the feed on the PHA production was examined. The final cell concentrations of 62.5, 54.7, and 9.5 g/L, PHA contents of 62.9, 75.1, and 67.6% of dry cell weight, and productivities of 1.03, 0.632, and 0.161 g/L/h were obtained when the C/N ratio in the feed were 10, 20, and 100 g octanoic acid/g ammonium nitrate, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.990-994
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• 2017

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable plastics produced by bacteria, but their use in diverse applications is prohibited by high production costs. To reduce these costs, the conversion by Pseudomonas strains of PHAs from crude sludge palm oil (SPO) as an inexpensive renewable raw material was tested. Pseudomonas putida S12 was found to produce the highest yield (~41%) of elastomeric medium-chain-length (MCL)-PHAs from SPO. The MCL-PHA characteristics were analyzed by gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry, gel permeation chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry. These findings may contribute to more widespread use of PHAs by reducing PHA production costs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.540-542
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• 1998

Five microorganisms capable of degrading an aromatic medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate ($PHA_{MCL}$), poly(3-hydroxy-5-phenylvalerate) (PHPV), were isolated from wastewater-treatment sludge. Among the isolates, JS02 showed degrading activity consistantly during several transfers. The isolate JS02 could hydrolyze another aromatic MCL copolyester, poly(3-hydroxy-5-phenoxyvalerate-co-3-hydroxy-7-phenoxyheptanoate), ［P(5POHV-co-7POHH)］, and other short-chain-length PHAs ($PHA_{SCL}) such as poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) ［P3(HB)］, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) ［P(3 HB-co-4 HB)］, and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) ［P(3HB-co-3HV)］ with relatively low activity. The culture supernatant of JS02 showed hydrolyzing activity for the p-nitrophenyl esters of fatty acids.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.51-53
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• 1996

Fed-batch culture of Pseudomonas oleovorans was carried out for the production of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) using octanoate as a carbon source. Octanoate and the salt solution containing ammounium sulfate and magnesium sulfate were intermittently fed in the course of fermentation. Cell mass and PHA concentrations of 42.8 and 16.8g/L, respectively, could be obtained in 40 h. The PHA content and the PHA productivity were 39.2% and 0.42 g PHA/L-h, respectively. The yields of cell mass and PHA were 0.71 g dry cell mass/g octanoate and 0.28g PHA/g octanoate, respectively. Therefore, octanoate can be used for the production of MCL-PHAs to a high concentration with high productivity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1120-1124
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• 2005

Pseudomonas putida KCTC 1639 was newly identified as a potential producer of biodegradable medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates. It exhibited a carbon assimilation pattern quite different from other known P. putida strains, but a more similar pattern with P. oleovorans, which assimilates the carbon sources mainly through ${\beta}$-oxidation rather than the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway. The PHA synthesis gene cluster from P. putida KCTC1639 was composed of two gene loci; the PHA synthase gene locus and granule-associated gene locus, which were cloned and deposited in the GenBank under accession numbers AY286491 and AY750858 as a new nucleotide sequence, respectively. The molecular structure and amino acid homology of the new gene cluster were compared with those from Pseudomonas species, including other P. putida strains and P. oleovorans, and a higher than $90\%$ homology was observed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.64-69
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• 2003

Pseudomonas chlororaphis HS21 was isolated from a soil sample and found to produce medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) using palm kernel oil (PKO) as the sole carbon source. Up to 3.3 g/1 dry cell weight containing $45\%$ MCL-PHA was produced, when the strain was grown for 21 h in a jar fermentor culture containing 5 g/1 PKO. The polymer produced from PKO consisted of unsaturated monomers of $7.3\%$ 3-hydroxy-5-cis-tetradecenoate and $2.3\%$ 3-hydroxy-5,8,-cis, cis-tetradecadienoate as well as saturated even-carbon number monomers ranging from $C_6\;to\;C_14$, as determined by GC and El GC/MS The PHA was a transparent, sticky material at room temperature. A differential scanning calorimetric analysis revealed that the polymer was amorphous with a $-44^{\circ}C$ glass transition temperature. The number average molecular weight and polydispersity index of the PHA were 83,000 and 1.53, respectively. Although the PHA was practically biodegradable, its degradability was lower than that of poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate) based on a comp:trison of the clear zones formed by growing PHA depolymerase-producing bacteria on an agar plate containing the respective polymers.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.455-462
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• 2016

Pseudomonas aeruginosa P-5 is an unusual organism capable of synthesizing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) consisting of 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) and medium-chain-length (MCL) 3-hydroxyalkanoate (3HA) monomer units when C-odd alkanoic acids are fed as the sole carbon source. Evaluation of the substrate chain-length specificity of two P. aeruginosa P-5 PHA synthases ($PhaC1_{P-5}$ and $PhaC2_{P-5}$) by heterologous expression of $PhaC1_{P-5}$ and $PhaC2_{P-5}$ genes in Pseudomonas putida GPp104 revealed that $PhaC2_{P-5}$ incorporates both 3HV and MCL 3HAs into PHA, whereas $PhaC1_{P-5}$ favors only MCL 3HAs for polymerization. In order to obtain $PhaC2_{P-5}$ mutants with altered substrate specificity, site-specific mutagenesis for $PhaC2_{P-5}$ was conducted. Amino acid substitutions of $PhaC2_{P-5}$ at two positions (Ser326Thr and Gln482Lys) were very effective for synthesizing copolymers with a higher 3HV fraction. When recombinant P. putida GPp104 harboring double mutated $phaC2_{P-5}$ gene ($phaC2_{P-5}QKST$) was grown on nonanoic acid, 2.5-fold increase of copolymer content with 3.8-fold increase of 3HV fraction was observed. The $phaC2_{P-5}QKST$-containing Ralstonia eutropha PHB-4 supplemented with valeric acid also produced copolymers consisting of 3HV and 3-hydroxyheptanoate with a high 3HV fraction. These results suggest that recombinants containing $phaC2_{P-5}QKST$ could be useful for production of new PHA copolymers with improved material properties.

• 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.