• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.1315-1320
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• 2002

Since the enzymatic degradation of microbial poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate] (P(3HB-co-3HV)) initially occurs by a surface erosion process, a degradation behavior could be controlled by the change of surface property. In order to control the rate of enzymatic degradation, plasma gas discharge and blending techniques were used to modify the surface of microbial P(3HB-co-3HV). The surface hydrophobic property of P(3HB-co-3HV) film was introduced by CF$_3$H plasma exposure. Also, the addition of small amount of polystyrene as a non-degradable polymer with lower surface energy to P(3HB-co-3HV) has been studied. The enzymatic degradation was carried out at 37 $^{\circ}C$ in 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) in the presence of an extracellular PHB depolymerase purified from Alcaligenes facalis T1. Both results showed the significant retardation of enzymatic erosion due to the hydrophobicity and the enzyme inactivity of the fluorinated- and PS-enriched surface layers.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.408-415
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• 2006

Temperature-dependent, wide-angle, x-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns and infrared (IR) spectra were measured for biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and its copolymers, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) P(HB-co-HHx) (HHx=2.5, 3.4, 10.5, and 12 mol%), in order to explore their crystal and lamellar structure and their pattern of C-H...O=C hydrogen bonding. The WAXD patterns showed that the P(HB-co-HHx) copolymers have the same orthorhombic system as PHB. It was found from the temperature-dependent WAXD measurements of PHB and P(HB-co-HHx) that the a lattice parameter is more enlarged than the b lattice parameter during heating and that only the a lattice parameter shows reversibility during both heating and cooling processes. These observations suggest that an interaction occurs along the a axis in PHB and P(HB-co-HHx). This interaction seems to be due to an intermolecular C-H...O=C hydrogen bonding between the C=O group in one helical structure and the $CH_3$ group in the other helical structure. The x-ray crystallographic data of PHB showed that the distance between the O atom of the C=O group in one helical structure and the H atom of one of the three C-H bonds of the $CH_3$ group in the other helix structure is $2.63{\AA}$, which is significantly shorter than the sum of the van der Waals separation ($2.72{\AA}$). This result and the appearance of the $CH_3$ asymmetric stretching band at $3009 cm^{-1}$ suggest that there is a C-H...O=C hydrogen bond between the C=O group and the $CH_3$ group in PHB and P(HB-co-HHx). The temperature-dependent WAXD and IR measurements revealed that the crystallinity of P(HB-co-HHx) (HHx =10.5 and 12 mol%) decreases gradually from a fairly low temperature, while that of PHB and P(HB-co-HHx) (HHx = 2.5 and 3.5 mol%) remains almost unchanged until just below their melting temperatures. It was also shown from our studies that the weakening of the C-H...O = C interaction starts from just above room temperature and proceeds gradually increasing temperature. It seems that the C-H...O=C hydrogen bonding stabilizes the chain holding in the lamellar structure and affects the thermal behaviour of PHB and its copolymers.

• Proceedings of the Zoological Society Korea Conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.195.2-195
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• 1996

acs gene cloning was constructed by subcloning the 2.2-kb MunI-MunI restriction fragment of 638 and 639 which include acs gene from the kohara phage into the unique EcoRI site of pUC18 and pJM9131 containing the PHA biosynthesis genes. Then recombinant E. coli fadRatoC(Con) mutants containing the polyhydroxyalkanoate(PHA) biosynthesis genes are able to incoporate s significant levels of 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) into the copolymer [P(3HB-co-3HV)]. Quantitative determination of PHB and P(3HB-co-3HV) was performed by gas-chromatographic analysis of extracts obtained from methanolysis of lyophilized cells.

• 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.11 no.6
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• pp.1031-1037
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• 2001

By a sequential action of ${\beta}$-ketothiolase and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase, two molecules of acetyl-CoA re converted into D-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA, a substrate for PHB synthase to form poly-3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA, a substrate for PHB synthase to form poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) of rhodobacter sphaeroides. The ${\beta}$-ketothiolase gene, phbA, and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase gene, phbB, were cloned and analyzed for their expression. Enzyme activities of ${\beta}$-ketothiolase and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase showed constitutive levels during aerobic and photoheterotrophic growth of R. sphaeroides. In addition, no difference of each enzyme activity was observed between cells grown aerobically and photoheterotrophically. The constitutive level of the enzyme activities are regulated according to the growth phases along with growth conditions. Thus, phbAB expression is not determinative in regulating the PB content. On the other hand, phbA-deleted cell AZI accumulated only $10\%$ PHB of the wild-type, and an elevated dosage of phbAB in trans in R. sphaeroides resulted in a higher content of PHB, indicating that phbAB codes for the enzymes responsible for providing the main supply of subsyrate for PHB synthase. PHB formation by an alternative pathway that does not does not depend on the phbA-and phbB-coding enzymes is also proposed.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.247-251
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• 2008

Degradation behavior in the seawater of Tongyeong, Incheon, Kunsan and Hongsung was explored for Mater-Bi$^{(R)}$, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxy valerate) (PHBV), poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) which can eventually be used for various fishery tools. Acinetobacter lwoffu/junii and Shewanella algae/putrefaciens inhabited all the seawater samples. Eikenella corrodens was also detected in all the seawater samples, although identified with poor confidence by VITEK system. Mater-Bi$^{(R)}$ was degraded faster than PHBV, PBSA and PCL in the seawater in contradiction to the degradation behavior in soil environment. The seawater retrieved from Incheon exhibited the most elevated activity for the plastic degradation, which may be partly ascribed to the largest number of total viable counts.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.352-352
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• 2006

Corynebacterium glutamicum, which is well known as an amino acid fermentation bacterium, has been used as a producer of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)]. P(3HB) was synthesized in recombinant C. glutamicum harboring the expression plasmid vector with a strong promoter for cell surface protein gene derived from C. glutamicum and P(3HB) biosynthetic gene operon derived from Ralstonia eutropha. The expression of P(3HB) synthase gene was detected by enzyme activity assay. Intracellular P(3HB) was microscopically observed as inclusion granules and its content was calculated to be 22.5 % (w/w) with molecular weight of $2.1{\times}10^{5}$ and polydispersity of 1.63.

• 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.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.109-112
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• 2002

Polybutadiene(PB) was epoxidized to various extents with m-chloroperbenzoic acid (MCPBA) in homogeneous solution. The thermal properties of the epoxidized PBs were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). As a result of epoxidation the glass transition temperature (Tg) of PB increased by approximately $0.8^{\circ}$ for each 1 mol% of epoxidation. The thermal decomposition of the epoxidised PBs occurred in two-step process, while that of PB exhibited apparent one-step degradation process.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.901-910
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• 2006

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] is a microbial polyester intracellularly accumulated as distinct granules in numerous microorganisms as an energy and carbon storage material. Recombinant Escherichia coli harboring the heterologous P(3HB) biosynthesis genes accumulates large amounts of P(3HB) granules, yet the granule-associated proteins have not been identified. Therefore, this study reports on an analysis of the P(3HB) granule-associated proteome in recombinant E. coli. Fiye proteins out of 7 spots identified were found to be involved in functions of translation, heat-stress responses, and P(3HB) biosynthesis. Two of the major granule-associated proteins, IbpA/B, which are already known to bind to recombinant proteins forming inclusion bodies in E. coli, were further analyzed. Immunoblotting and immunoelectron microscopic studies with IbpA/B antibodies clearly demonstrated the binding and localization of IbpA/B to P(3HB) granules. IbpA/B seemed to play an important role in recombinant E. coli producing P(3HB) by stabilizing the interface between the hydrophobic P(3HB) granules and the hydrophilic cytoplasm. Thus, IbpA/B were found to act like phasins in recombinant E. coli, as they are the major proteins bound to the P(3HB) granules, affect the morphology of the granules, and reduce the amount of cytosolic proteins bound to the P(3HB) granules.