Two is better than one – linking of thermophilic bacteria to enhance PHA production

abstract

English

Plastics are an essential part of our daily lives and almost everything that surrounds us. However, their ever-increasing production brings many negatives, particularly in the form of pollution, which has become one of the major environmental problems of our time and is beyond the nature's capacity to cope with. One approach is to try replacing part of petrochemical plastics with biobased and/or biodegradable plastics, both of which are met in microbial polyesters – polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA). The biggest drawback, however, is the high cost of production, the reduction of which has become the mission of many scientists. Using thermophilic strains of bacteria as producers is a promising option. One of the adepts who have great potential in this field are the thermophilic bacteria of the genus Aneurinibacillus, which have recently been identified by our group as significant producers of unique PHA copolymers revealing extraordinary material properties. Another and no less interesting contender is Caldimonas thermodepolymerans, a moderately thermophilic bacteria that is capable of accumulating a significant amount of poly3-hydroxybutyrate P(3HB) from lignocellulose relevant sugars. Since both bacteria are very interesting and promising, but at the same time not thriving in a certain area, we aim to link these two worlds, especially from the context of knowledge in the field of molecular biology and genetics. In this way, we would create a perfect combination of two microorganisms, where the chassis would be C. thermodepolymerans enriched with a flexible synthetic device from Aneurinibacillussp., thus achieving the production of interesting PHA copolymers even from inexpensive feedstocks. PHA production could be then introduced into the industrial sphere and compete with petrochemical plastics or join a very desirable field in biomedicine.

polyhydroxyalkanoates, PHA, thermophiles, genetics

ŠLOSÁROVÁ, K.; BUCHTÍKOVÁ, I.; SEDLÁŘ, K.; DVOŘÁK, P.; OBRUČA, S.

15. 4. 2024

978-80-88214-48-9

book of abstracts

1

1

211

211

1