Peña C, Castillo T, García A, Millán M, Segura D. Biotechnological strategies to improve production of microbial poly-(3-hydroxybutyrate): a review of recent research work.
Microb Biotechnol 2015;
7:278-93. [PMID:
24898500 PMCID:
PMC4241722 DOI:
10.1111/1751-7915.12129]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2014] [Accepted: 04/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Poly-(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] is a polyester synthesized as a carbon and energy reserve material by a wide number of bacteria. This polymer is characterized by its thermo-plastic properties similar to plastics derived from petrochemical industry, such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Furthermore, P(3HB) is an inert, biocompatible and biodegradable material which has been proposed for several uses in medical and biomedical areas. Currently, only few bacterial species such as Cupriavidus necator, Azohydromonas lata and recombinant Escherichia coli have been successfully used for P(3HB) production at industrial level. Nevertheless, in recent years, several fermentation strategies using other microbial models such as Azotobacter vinelandii, A. chroococcum, as well as some methane-utilizing species, have been developed in order to improve the P(3HB) production and also its mean molecular weight.
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