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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Bioproducts Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #406467
Research Project: Bioproducts and Biopolymers from Agricultural Feedstocks

Location: Bioproducts Research

Title: Polyhydroxyalkanoate production by Priestia megaterium on glycerol

Author
item Chan, Victor
item Luo, Winston
item Cal, Andrew
item Lee, Charles

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2023
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Our society relies heavily on plastic, but most plastic is petroleum-based and non-biodegradable resulting in major negative environmental impacts. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a type of biopolymer that can be produced from renewable resources, such as glycerol. PHAs are biodegradable and have properties similar to petroleum-based plastics. Priestia megaterium strains have been demonstrated in previous studies to produce PHA when cultured on glycerol. Genetic modifications to this microorganism will be an essential to step to maximize productivity; however, it is unknown which strains would be the most appropriate hosts to use. In this study, we screened a number of P. megaterium strains from public repositories for their ability to produce PHA from glycerol. The strains had a wide variety of growth and PHA production characteristics on glycerol: cell dry weight (0.4-5.2 g/L), percent PHA (5.5-40%), PHA (0.1-2.1 g/L), and yield (8.1-114.7 mg/g). There was also a dramatic difference in molecular weights which ranged from 119 kD to 616 kD.