Oprimization of production system for bioplastics by enzyme evolutionary engineering

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Biotechnological studies for biosynthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) biopolyester have been extensively progressed through the development of various metabolic engineering strategies involving fermentation technology of naturally occurring PHA-producing bacteria based on external substrate manipulation (1st generation), subsequently reinforced with recombinant gene technology (2nd generation). Most recently, "enzyme evolution" is becoming the 3rd generation approach for PHA production. Break-through in chemical synthesis of macromolecules with desirable properties was achieved by development of prominent chemical catalysts, "catalyst evolution", as represented by a series of Zigler-Natta catalysts. Thus, one can easily accept the concept that molecular evolution of the biocatalysts (enzymes) relevant to PHA synthesis will provide us a chance to create novel PHA materials with high-performance. The first trial of the in vitro enzyme evolution in PHA biosynthesis was reported by our group in 2001. The following literature data as well as our own experimental results devoted to this new approach have been gradually accumulated for a short time.This research project focused specifically on the concept and current case studies of the application of "enzyme evolution" to PHA biosynthesis.