Microbial monomers custom-synthesized to build true bio-derived aromatic polymers

Aromatic polymers include novel and extant functional materials although none has been produced from biotic building blocks derived from primary biomass glucose. Here we screened microbial aromatic metabolites, engineered bacterial metabolism and fermented the aromatic lactic acid derivative β-pheny...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied microbiology and biotechnology 2013-10, Vol.97 (20), p.8887-8894
Main Authors: Fujita, Tomoya, Nguyen, Hieu Duc, Ito, Takashi, Zhou, Shengmin, Osada, Lisa, Tateyama, Seiji, Kaneko, Tatsuo, Takaya, Naoki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acids
Bacteria
Biomass
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biopolymers
Biopolymers - biosynthesis
Bioreactors - microbiology
Biotechnological Products and Process Engineering
Biotechnology
Cellulose
Chemicals
Cloning
Dehydrogenases
Derivatives
Design
Dextrose
E coli
Encoding
Enzymes
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli - metabolism
Fermentation
Genetic Engineering
Glucose
Glucose metabolism
Lactates - metabolism
Life Sciences
Metabolism
Metabolites
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Monomers
Phenylalanine
Plasmids
Polymerase chain reaction
Polymers
Renewable resources
Science
Studies
Trace elements
Volatile Organic Compounds - metabolism
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Summary:Aromatic polymers include novel and extant functional materials although none has been produced from biotic building blocks derived from primary biomass glucose. Here we screened microbial aromatic metabolites, engineered bacterial metabolism and fermented the aromatic lactic acid derivative β-phenyllactic acid (PhLA). We expressed the Wickerhamia fluorescens gene ( pprA ) encoding a phenylpyruvate reductase in Escherichia coli strains producing high levels of phenylalanine, and fermented optically pure (>99.9 %) D -PhLA. Replacing pprA with bacterial ldhA encoding lactate dehydrogenase generated L -PhLA, indicating that the produced enzymes converted phenylpyruvate, which is an intermediate of phenylalanine synthesis, to these chiral PhLAs. Glucose was converted under optimized fermentation conditions to yield 29 g/l d -PhLA, which was purified from fermentation broth. The product satisfied the laboratory-scale chemical synthesis of poly( d -PhLA) with M w 28,000 and allowed initial physiochemical characterization. Poly( d -PhLA) absorbed near ultraviolet light, and has the same potential as all other biomass-derived aromatic bioplastics of phenylated derivatives of poly(lactic acid). This approach to screening and fermenting aromatic monomers from glucose exploits a new era of bio-based aromatic polymer design and will contribute to petroleum conservation and carbon dioxide fixation.
ISSN:0175-7598
1432-0614
DOI:10.1007/s00253-013-5078-4