This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ramsay, B. A.
Right arrow Articles by Cooper, D. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ramsay, B. A.
Right arrow Articles by Cooper, D. G.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Ramsay, B. A.
Right arrow Articles by Cooper, D. G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1989 March; 55(3): 584-589
Copyright © 1989, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Production of Poly-ß-Hydroxyalkanoic Acid by Pseudomonas cepacia

Bruce A. Ramsay*, Juliana A. Ramsay and David G. Cooper

1 Département de Génie Chimique, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7, and Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7,2 Canada

ABSTRACT

The possibility of using the nutritionally versatile bacterium Pseudomonas cepacia to produce poly-ß-hydroxyalkanoic acid was evaluated. Chemostat culture showed that growth of P. cepacia became nitrogen limited when the molar carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of the medium fed into the fermentor was above 15. When grown under nitrogen limitation in batch culture with fructose as the sole source of carbon, P. cepacia accumulated poly-ß-hydroxybutyric acid (PHB) in excess of 50% of the dry weight of its biomass. In batch culture, almost no PHB was produced until the onset of nitrogen limitation. After this point, PHB was produced at a linear rate of 0.12 g liter–1 h–1 (from a constant value of 1.6 g of cellular protein liter–1). PHB produced by P. cepacia had a weight-average molecular weight of 5.37 x 105 g mol–1 and a polydispersivity index of 3.9. Poly(ß-hydroxybutyric acid-ß-hydroxyvaleric acid) copolymer was produced with a poly-ß-hydroxybutyric acid-poly-ß-hydroxyvaleric acid ratio of up to 30% by weight when propionic acid was added to the medium.

FOOTNOTES

* Corresponding author.

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1989 March; 55(3): 584-589
Copyright © 1989, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»