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Article history: Petroleum-based plastics constitute a major environmental problem due to their low biodegradabil-
Received 3 March 2014 ity and accumulation in various environments. Therefore, searching for novel biodegradable plastics is
Received in revised form 13 May 2014 of increasing interest. Microbial polyesters known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable
Accepted 3 June 2014
plastics. Life cycle assessment indicates that PHB is more benecial than petroleum-based plastics. In this
Available online 26 June 2014
report, bacterial production of PHAs and their industrial applications are reviewed and the synthesis of
PHAs in Burkholderia xenovorans LB400 is described. PHAs are synthesized by a large number of microor-
Keywords:
ganisms during unbalanced nutritional conditions. These polymers are accumulated as carbon and energy
Polyhydroxyalkanoate
Biodegradable plastic reserve in discrete granules in the bacterial cytoplasm. 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyvalerate are two
Polyhydroxybutyrate main PHA units among 150 monomers that have been reported. B. xenovorans LB400 is a model bacterium
Burkholderia xenovorans for the degradation of polychlorobiphenyls and a wide range of aromatic compounds. A bioinformatic
pha gene analysis of LB400 genome indicated the presence of pha genes encoding enzymes of pathways for PHA
synthesis. This study showed that B. xenovorans LB400 synthesize PHAs under nutrient limitation. Stain-
ing with Sudan Black B indicated the production of PHAs by B. xenovorans LB400 colonies. The PHAs
produced were characterized by GCMS. Diverse substrates for the production of PHAs in strain LB400
were analyzed.
2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2014.06.001
0141-8130/ 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
V. Urtuvia et al. / International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 70 (2014) 208213 209
3. Biopolymers and polyhydroxyalkanoates PHAs are produced by bacteria from a wide range of substrates
such as renewable sources (e.g., sucrose, starch, cellulose, trigly-
The term biopolymer includes polymers of natural origin, but cerides, hemicellulose, wheat), sub-products (e.g., molasses, whey,
also high molecular mass molecules that have been polymerized glycerol, corn steep liquor, rice bran), organic acids (e.g., propionic
by chemical and biological methods. Not all biopolymers are acid, 4-hydroxybutyric acid), fossil resources (e.g., methane, min-
biodegradable [5]. The biodegradable plastics primarily are pro- eral oil, lignite, hard coal) and wastes (e.g., wastewater, palm oil
duced from renewable raw materials by aerobic synthesis and from mill and activated sludge efuents) [15,24,27,3133].
waste management by composting and anaerobic digestion [6]. Substrates such as glucose and sucrose have been used for
The biopolymers are classied according to their biodegradability industrial PHA production. The raw materials showed a high
or composition. PHAs and polylactic acid (PLA) are well-studied impact on the PHA production cost. Therefore, low cost raw
biopolymers due to their biodegradability and physicochemical materials are attractive for industrial PHA production [8]. Xylose
properties [5,7]. could be an interesting alternative substrate for PHA production
PHAs are thermoplastic polyesters of R-hydroxyalkanoic acids. (Fig. 3). Xylose is the main sugar component of hemicellulose in
PHAs are synthesized and stored as intracellular carbon and Gramineae plants and hardwood. Hemicellulose is the third most
energy reserve in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria under abundant polymer in nature that is converted into fermentable
210 V. Urtuvia et al. / International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 70 (2014) 208213
Table 1
Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by diverse bacteria.
sugars by chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis [31]. Hemicellulose of PHAs have made them interesting candidates for low volume
hydrolysis releases xylose, mannose, galactose, arabinose and glu- products of high value, especially for biomedical applications [39].
cose. PHB production from xylose by Pseudomonas pseudoava For example, PHA nanoparticles for drug delivery and biocompati-
ATCC 33668, Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17759 and recombinant ble porous implants made from poly-4-hydroxybutyrate has been
Escherichia coli strains TG1(pSYL105) and W3110(pSYL107) has reported [8,39].
been reported [3437]. The forestry, which produces high amounts Various small and middle-sized enterprises around the world
of hemicellulose-containing sub-products, is an important activity produce PHAs at small-scale. For example, P&G (USA), Biomer Inc.
in diverse countries (e.g., in Canada, Chile, Brazil and USA). There- (Germany), Tianan Biologic (China) and PHB Industrial (Brazil) [7].
fore, PHA production from sub-products containing xylose may be Bags, pencils, plates, glasses and various plastic parts are manufac-
an attractive alternative. tured from these polymers. PHA resins are used for the manufacture
One of the most signicant barriers for an increased industrial of sustained release drugs, bone implants and sutures [39]. In addi-
PHAs production is its high cost. The product price depends up tion, PHAs can be used as latex (for example, for paper-coating
to 50% on the raw material cost, mainly the carbon source. The applications) or in foods [40]. However, to enhance the PHA pro-
biopolymer recovery process also contributes to higher PHA pro- duction, the production cost should be decreased. Therefore, novel
duction cost [10,15,35]. PHAs are still produced on a small-scale approaches for PHA production have to be established [5].
production volume from 1000 to 20,000 t per year, which also
increases the cost. In contrast, polyethylene is produced in quanti- 5. PHA synthesis by Burkholderia xenovorans strain LB400
ties exceeding 300,000 t per year, with an important benet in the
nal price due to the economy of scale [7,38]. PHA price varies from The genus Burkholderia possesses high metabolic versatility and
1.5 to 5 D per kg, whereas polypropylene price varies from 0.2 to is adapted to different ecological niches including soil and aqueous
0.4 D per kg [7,10]. However, the versatility and biocompatibility environments. B. xenovorans LB400 is a model aerobic bacterium for
Fig. 2. Structural formulas of PHAs. General PHA structural formula (a). R derived from radical represents different substituents. PHB structural formula (b). Structural formulas
of short-chain-length PHA monomers (c).
V. Urtuvia et al. / International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 70 (2014) 208213 211
Fig. 3. Biosynthesis of 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyvalerate from different substrates. 3HB is synthesized from sugars via the Entner-Doudoroff pathway and from few
fatty acids. 3HV is synthesized from diverse fatty acids. Abbreviations: 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV), 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB), phosphate (P); Coenzyme A (CoA) and 2-keto-3-
deoxy-6-phosphogluconate (KDPG).
the degradation of polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and a wide range For example, the hmgABC gene cluster encoding the homogenti-
of aromatic compounds. PCBs have been used as complex mix- sate central pathway and the hpaG1G2EDFHI gene cluster encoding
tures for diverse industrial applications. These compounds are toxic the homoprotocatechuate central pathway are located at chro-
and tend to accumulate as persistent organic pollutants in soil and mosome 1 (C1) and chromosome 2 (C2), respectively. Additional
water sediment [41,42]. hmg gene copies were identied within the LB400 genome [43,44].
The large genome from B. xenovorans strain LB400 (9.73 Mbp) The functionality of diverse catabolic pathways such as biphenyl,
has been sequenced and characterized [43]. Strain LB400 possesses homogentisate, homoprotocatechuate, gentisate, protocatechuate
genes encoding enzymes of eleven central and more than twenty and 2-aminophenol pathways has been reported [42,4446]. B. xen-
peripheral pathways for the degradation of aromatic compounds. ovorans LB400 is able to grow on 3-hydroxyphenylacetate (3-HPA)
Fig. 4. The pha gene cluster organization in B. xenovorans strain LB400 and R. eutropha strain H16. The arrows indicate the PHA metabolic pathway genes wherein the black
arrows indicate the PHA polymerase genes.
212 V. Urtuvia et al. / International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 70 (2014) 208213
Fig. 5. Synthesis of polyhdroxyalkanoates by B. xenovorans strain LB400. LB400 colonies grown on M9 medium with mannitol (10 g L1 ) as sole carbon source and 10% N (NH4 Cl
0.1 g L1 ) were stained with Sudan Black B dye (a). Magnication of the image (b).
and 4-hydroxyphenylacetate (4-HPA) isomers as sole carbon and and physicochemical properties. PHAs are synthesized and stored
energy sources, indicating active peripheral and central catabolic as intracellular carbon and energy reserve by bacteria under nutri-
pathways. The homogentisate and homoprotocatechuate central ent limitation. Diverse bacteria are able to synthesize PHAs from a
pathways are involved in 3-HPA and 4-HPA degradation in strain wide range of substrates. The carbon sources have a high impact
LB400. Both ring-cleavage pathways are used in aromatic amino on the PHA production cost. Low cost raw materials are attractive
acid metabolism in Bacteria and Eucarya. to increase industrial PHAs production, which are currently pro-
A number of bioinformatic tools are useful to reconstruct duced by small and middle-sized companies. LCA indicates that
metabolic pathways in bacteria. The genes of the PHA anabolic PHB is environmentally more benecial than conventional plastics
pathway from the model PHA-producing bacterium R. eutropha such as polypropylene. Bioinformatics tools have been used for the
strain H16 have been characterized. The genes for the synthesis reconstruction of metabolic pathways from bacteria. Our genome
and degradation of PHA were found in B. xenovorans strain LB400. analyses have shown that B. xenovorans strain LB400 possesses
Strain LB400 has two PHA anabolic pathways: (i) the pathway that the genes for the synthesis and degradation of polyhydroxyalka-
uses sugars as carbon sources and, (ii) the pathway associated to noates. The pha gene cluster encoding enzymes for PHA synthesis
fatty acids catabolic pathway (-oxidation). In B. xenovorans strain in strain LB400 has the same gene organization as the pha genes in R.
LB400, the pha genes for the synthesis of PHAs are arranged in a eutropha strain H16. PhaC polymerase from strain LB400 is closely
gene cluster at the major chromosome [47]. The pha gene clusters related with class I type PhaC polymerase from other bacteria. B.
from R. eutropha H16 and B. xenovorans LB400 have a similar orga- xenovorans LB400 cultivated on sugars such as glucose and manni-
nization, which are shown in Fig. 4. B. xenovorans strain LB400 has tol synthesizes PHAs. Xylose is a sugar released from hemicellulose,
three copies of the phaC gene distributed in the major chromosome, which is available in high amounts as by-products of forestry. This
minor chromosome and the megaplasmid. The PHA polymerase might enable in the future the use of xylose as a low cost substrate
PhaC from strain H16 possesses 15 functionally key amino acids for large-scale production of polyhydroxyalkanoates.
[48,49].These amino acids are conserved in PhaC polymerase from
strain LB400 [47]. Acknowledgments
Different compounds including sugars and alkanoates are sub-
strates for the bacterial production of PHAs. B. xenovorans LB400 The authors gratefully acknowledge Gregorio Gomez and
is able to grow on glucose, mannitol and xylose as sole carbon Luiziana Ferreira da Silva for their generous support. The authors
source. In contrast, strain LB400 was not able to grow on lactose acknowledge nancial support from CONICYT PhD, Mecesup CD
and sucrose. To study the PHA synthesis by strain LB400 in a rst FSM1204 and Cyted PRIBOP fellowships (VU) and FONDECYT
approach staining of bacterial colonies with Sudan Black B dye 1110992 (MS), USM 131109 and 131342 (MS, MG), Pie > A (PV,VU),
was analyzed [10,50]. LB400 colonies grown on mannitol (10 g L1 ) CN&SB (MS) and Cyted PRIBOP (MS) grants. The funders had no role
were stained with Sudan Black B, indicating the intracellular accu- in study design, data collection and analyses, decision to publish,
mulation of PHAs (Fig. 5). or preparation of the manuscript.
The synthesis of PHAs by strain LB400 was studied during
growth on various sugars and fatty acids. PHAs were identied References
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