No abstract

Alcaligenes latus has been known to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) in a growth-associated manner even under nutrient-sufficient conditions. However, the PHB content obtained by fed-batch culture was always low, at ca. 50%, which makes the recovery process inefficient. In this study, the effect of applying nitrogen limitation on the production of PHB by A. latus was examined. In flask and batch cultures, the PHB synthesis rate could be increased considerably by applying nitrogen limitation. The PHB content could be increased to 87% by applying nitrogen limitation in batch culture, which was considerably higher than that typically obtainable (50%) under nitrogen-sufficient conditions. In fed-batch culture, cells were first cultured by the DO-stat feeding strategy without applying nitrogen limitation. Nitrogen limitation was applied at a cell concentration of 76 g (dry cell weight)/liter, and the sucrose concentration was maintained within 5 to 20 g/liter. After 8 h of nitrogen limitation, the cell concentration, PHB concentration, and PHB content reached 111.7 g (dry cell weight)/liter, 98.7 g/liter, and 88%, respectively, resulting in a productivity of 4.94 g of PHB/liter/h. The highest PHB productivity, 5.13 g/liter/h, was obtained after 16 h.

Escherichia coli XL1-Blue harboring a high-copy-number plasmid containing the Alcaligenes eutrophus polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis genes could efficiently synthesize poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) in a complex medium containing yeast extract and tryptone but not in a defined medium. One of the reasons for the reduced PHB production in a defined medium was thought to be severe filamentation of cells in this medium. By overexpressing an essential cell division protein, FtsZ, in recombinant E. coli producing PHB, filamentation could be suppressed and PHB could be efficiently produced in a defined medium. A high PHB concentration of 149 g/liter, with high productivity of 3.4 g of PHB/liter/h, could be obtained by the pH-stat fed-batch culture of the filamentation-suppressed recombinant E. coli in a defined medium. It was also found that insufficient oxygen supply at a dissolved oxygen concentration (DOC) of 1 to 3% of air saturation during active PHB synthesis phase did not negatively affect PHB production. By growing cells to the concentration of 110 g/liter and then controlling the DOC in the range of 1 to 3% of air saturation, a PHB concentration of 157 g/liter and PHB productivity of 3.2 g of PHB/liter/h were obtained. For the scale-up studies, fed-batch culture was carried out in a 50-liter stirred tank fermentor, in which the DOC decreased to zero when cell concentration reached 50 g/liter. However, a relatively high PHB concentration of 101 g/liter and PHB productivity of 2.8 g of PHB/liter/h could still be obtained, which demonstrated the possibility of industrial production of PHB in a defined medium by employing the filamentation-suppressed recombinant E. coli.

No abstract

A recombinant Escherichia coli strain XL1-Blue harboring a stable high-copy-number plasmid pSYL107 containing the Alcaligenes eutrophus polyhydroxyalkanoate biosynthesis genes and the Escherichia coli ftsZ gene was employed for the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) by fed-batch culture in a defined medium. Suppression of filamentation by overexpressing the cell division protein FtsZ allowed production of PHB to a high concentration (77 g/L) with high productivity (2 g/L/h) in a defined medium, which was not possible with the recombinant E. coli that underwent filamentation. Further optimization of fed-batch culture condition resulted in PHB concentration of 104 g/L in a defined medium, which was the highest value reported to date by employing recombinant E. coli.