Microbial Cometabolism and Polyhydroxyalkanoate Co-polymers

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHAs) are natural, biodegradable biopolymers, which can be produced from renewable materials. PHAs have potential to replace petroleum derived plastics. Quite a few bacteria can produce PHA under nutritional stress. They generally produce homopolymers of butyrate i.e., polyhydr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of microbiology 2017-03, Vol.57 (1), p.39-47
Main Authors: Ray, Subhasree, Kalia, Vipin Chandra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochemistry
Biodegradation
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biopolymers
Life Sciences
Medical Microbiology
Microbiology
Polyhydroxyalkanoates
Polyhydroxybutyrate
Polymers
Review
Review Article
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Summary:Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHAs) are natural, biodegradable biopolymers, which can be produced from renewable materials. PHAs have potential to replace petroleum derived plastics. Quite a few bacteria can produce PHA under nutritional stress. They generally produce homopolymers of butyrate i.e., polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), as a storage material. The biochemical characteristics of PHB such as brittleness, low strength, low elasticity, etc. make these unsuitable for commercial applications. Co-polymers of PHA, have high commercial value as they overcome the limitations of PHBs. Co-polymers can be produced by supplementing the feed with volatile fatty acids or through hydrolysates of different biowastes. In this review, we have listed the potential bacterial candidates and the substrates, which can be co-metabolized to produce PHA co-polymers.
ISSN:0046-8991
0973-7715
DOI:10.1007/s12088-016-0622-4