微生物降解塑料的研究进展

聚羟基脂肪酸酯(PHAs)是许多原核微生物在不平衡生长条件下合成的细胞内能量和碳源储藏性物质,作为完全可生物降解的热塑性聚酯而倍受关注。它除了具有与化学合成高分子相似的性质外,还具有比重大、光学活性好、透氧性低、抗紫外线辐射、生物可降解性、生物组织相溶性、压电性和抗凝血性等特点,因而在电子、光学、农业、生物医学、食品包装等领域具有广阔的应用前景。本文主要综述了近几年来国内外对PHAs微生物合成的研究进展,同时对PHAs的应用前景进行了展望。     

Construction of recombinant Bacillus subtilis for production of polyhydroxyalkanoates

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are polyesters of hydroxyalkanoates synthesized by numerous bacteria as intracellular carbon and energy storage compounds and accumulated as granules in the cytoplasm of cells. In this work, we constructed two recombinant plasmids, pBE2C1, and pBE2C1AB, containing one or two PHA synthse, genes, respectively. The two plasmids were inserted into Bacillus subtilis DB104 to generate modified strains, B. subtilis/pBE2C1 and B. subtilis/pBE2C1AB. The two recombinants strains were subjected to fermentation and showed PHA accumulation, the first reported example of mcl-PHA production in B. subtilis. Gas Chromatography analysis identified the compound produced by B. subtilis/pBE2C1 to be a hydroxydecanoate-co-hydroxydodecanoate (HD-co-HDD) polymer whereas that produced by B. subtilis/pBE2C1AB was a hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyde-canoate-co-hydroxydodecanoate (HB-HD-HDD) polymer.     

Supercritical CO2 Assisted Impregnation of Ibuprofen on Medium-Chain-Length Polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHA)

In this work, we propose the utilization of scCO₂ to impregnate ibuprofen into the mcl-PHA matrix produced by Pseudomonas chlororaphis subs. aurantiaca (DSM 19603). The biopolymer has adhesive properties, is biocompatible and has a melting temperature of 45 °C. Several conditions, namely, pressure (15 and 20 MPa) and impregnation time (30 min, 1 h and 3 h) were tested. The highest ibuprofen content (90.8 ± 6.5 mg of ibuprofen/g_PHA) was obtained at 20 MPa and 40 °C, for 1 h, with an impregnation rate of 89 mg/(g·h). The processed mcl-PHA samples suffered a plasticization, as shown by the decrease of 6.5 °C in the T_g, at 20 MPa. The polymer’s crystallinity was also affected concomitantly with the matrices’ ibuprofen content. For all the impregnation conditions tested the release of ibuprofen from the biopolymer followed a type II release profile. This study has demonstrated that the mcl-PHA produced by P. chlororaphis has a great potential for the development of novel topical drug delivery systems.     

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Biosynthesis from Whey Lactose

Summary: The potential of three different microbial wild type strains as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) producers from whey lactose is compared. Homopolyester and co-polyester biosynthesis was investigated by the archaeon Haloferax mediterranei and the eubacterial strains Pseudomonas hydrogenovora and Hydrogenophaga pseudoflava. H. mediterranei accumulated 50 wt.-% of poly-3-(hydroxybutyrate-co-6%-hydroxyvalerate) in cell dry mass from hydrolyzed whey without addition of 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) precursors (specific productivity q_p: 2.9 mg/g h). Using P. hydrogenovora, the final percentage of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) amounted to 12 wt.-% (q_p: 0.03 g/g h); co-feeding of valeric acid resulted in the production of 12 wt.-%. P-3(HB-co-21%-HV) (q_p: 0.02 g/g h). With H. pseudoflava, it was possible to reach 40 wt.-% P-3 (HB-co-5%-HV) on not-hydrolyzed whey lactose plus valeric acid as 3HV precursor (q_p: 9.1 mg/g h); on hydrolyzed whey lactose without addition of valeric acid, the strain produced 30 wt.-% of PHB (q_p: 0.16 g/g h). The characterization of the isolated biopolyesters completes the study.     

Biodegradation of Polyhydroxyalkanoate Films in Natural Environments

Summary: Biodegradation of film specimens from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) of two types – poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) – was analysed in different environments: tropical sea waters of the South China Sea (Nha Trang, Vietnam) and soils in the environs of Hanoi (Vietnam), Nha Trang (Vietnam) and Krasnoyarsk (Siberia, Russia). In seawater, the mass loss of the specimens of both types was almost equal. However, in tropical soils, PHB degraded quicker than PHBV. In the Siberian soil, the degradation rate of the PHBV was generally higher than that of PHBV. Analysis of molecular mass of PHA specimens showed its decreasing during biodegradation. In the tropical sea conditions, PHA degrading microorganisms were represented by bacteria of Enterobacter, Bacillus and Gracilibacillus genera. Among PHA degrading bacteria, Burkholderia, Alcaligenes, Bacillus, Mycobacterium and Streptomyces genera were identified in Vietnamese soils, and Variovorax, Stenotrophomonas, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Xanthomonas genera in Siberian soils. Micromycetes of Gongronella, Paecilomyces, Penicillium and Trichoderma genera exhibited PHA degrading activity in Vietnamese soils, and Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Acremonium, Verticillium and Zygosporium genera – in Siberian soils.     

Recent advances in polyhydroxyalkanoate production by mixed aerobic cultures: from the substrate to the final product

Numerous bacteria have been found to exhibit the capacity for intracellular polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) accumulation. Current methods for PHA production at the industrial scale are based on their synthesis from microbial isolates in either their wild form or by recombinant strains. High production costs are associated with these methods; thus, attempts have been made to develop more cost-effective processes. Reducing the cost of the carbon substrates (e.g., through feeding renewable wastes) and increasing the efficiency of production technologies (including both fermentation and downstream extraction and recovery) are two such examples of these attempts. PHA production processes based on mixed microbial cultures are being investigated as a possible technology to decrease production costs, since no sterilization is required and bacteria can adapt quite well to the complex substrates that may be present in waste material. PHA accumulation by mixed cultures has been found under various operational conditions and configurations at both bench-scale and full-scale production. The process known as "feast and famine" or as "aerobic dynamic feeding" seems to have a high potential for PHA production by mixed cultures. Enriched cultures submitted to a transient carbon supply can synthesize PHA at levels comparable to those of pure cultures. Indeed, the intracellular PHA content can reach around 70% of the cell dry weight, suggesting that this process could be competitive with pure culture PHA production when fully developed. Basic and applied research of the PHA production process by mixed cultures has been carried out in the past decade, focusing on areas such as microbial characterization, process configuration, reactor operational strategies, process modeling and control, and polymer characterization. This paper presents a review of the PHA production process with mixed cultures, encompassing the findings reported in the literature as well as our own experimental results in relation to each of these areas.     

Controlled polymerization of α-methyl-β-pentyl-β-propiolactone by a discrete zinc alkoxide complex

We report the zinc(II) alkoxide-mediated ring opening polymerization of α-methyl-β-pentyl-β-propiolactone. The polymerization proceeds to high conversion and in the absence of significant transesterification to yield polymers with narrow molecular weight distributions. Poly(α-methyl-β-pentyl-β-propiolactone), PMPP, is an amorphous, low glass transition material that forms immiscible blends with polylactide (PLA). PMPP-b-PLA diblock copolymers, for use as potential blend compatibilizers, were synthesized in a controlled manner by sequential monomer addition.     

Pseudomonas stutzeri 1317合成中长链聚羟基脂肪酸酯的组成分析模型

Pseudomonasstutzeri 1317可以在不同碳源上生长,合成不同共聚单体单元组成的中长链聚羟基脂肪酸酯(mclPHAs).本文在已知的代谢途径的基础上,提出了关于mclPHAs组成的数学模型,结果表明,mclPHAs的共聚单体单元组成主要取决于前体生成途径,以及该途径和聚合途径酶对不同碳原子数前体的选择性.实验结果与文献报道结果均验证了该模型.代谢控制分析的结果表明,碳数为8～10的前体的聚合效率最高.通过调制前体生成途径,可以有效调节PHA的单体单元组成.     

Soft bacterial polyester‐based shape memory nanocomposites featuring reconfigurable nanostructure

In this work, a novel soft shape memory polymer nanocomposite derived from a bacterial medium‐chain‐length polyhydroxyalkanoate, poly(3‐hydroxyoctanoate‐co‐3‐hydroxyundecenoate) (PHOU), used to form a covalent network grafted with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), a crystallizable inorganic–organic hybrid nanofiller, was prepared. The PHOU–POSS nanocomposite, PHOU–POSSw‐net [w (= POSS content, wt %) = 0, 20, 25, 30, and 38], is a completely amorphous elastomer (w ≤ 20) or contains POSS nanocrystals embedded in the amorphous PHOU matrix (w ≥ 25). The hybrid nanostructure of PHOU–POSSw‐net (w ≥ 25) is featured by its reconfigurability, based on aggregation and disaggregation of POSS covalently connected to the PHOU network, which enables excellent shape fixing and recovery. Furthermore, it exhibits soft and elastomeric mechanical properties even in the fixed state. Taking advantage of the shape memory ability as well as the softness in the fixed state, we demonstrate microscale dynamic surface topography of PHOU–POSSw‐net. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012     

脂肪酶催化缩聚法合成可完全降解的聚羟基丙酸酯(英文)

以3-羟基丙酸甲酯为聚合单体,建立了以固定化脂肪酶Novozym 435为催化剂的酶催化缩聚反应体系,合成可完全降解的高分子聚酯聚羟基丙酸酯,考察了反应条件和介质对反应性能的影响,结果表明,纯度大于95%的单体即可在温和条件下合成聚羟基羧酸酯;降低反应压力可有效提升产物产率和分子量.通过选择合适的有机溶剂介质和表面活性剂,可使产物分子量提升至13000(Mw)以上.脂肪酶催化剂重复利用能力优异,经6批次反应后,其相对活性保持在95%以上.