The Production of Biodegradable Polymers-medium-chain-length Polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHA) in Pseudomonas putida for Biomedical Engineering Applications

Background: Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are bacteria-synthesized biopolymers under imbalanced growth conditions. These biopolymers are acknowledged as potential biomaterials for future applications because of their characteristics of biocompatibility and biodegradability, and ability to be produced rapidly, and strong functionality of mechanical resistance. This article aims to perform microbial fermentation using the Pseudomonas putida strain to identify the quantity of biopolymers, particularly of the medium-chain-length (mcl-PHA) polyhydroxyalkanoates, based on the type and quantity of the added precursors (glucose and fatty acids).

Methods: To understand the microbial interaction and the mechanism involved in PHA biosynthesis, several methods were employed and microbial biomass was obtained using the Pseudomonas putida strain capable of producing PHA. The polymer production by acetone extraction was analyzed using the Soxhlet method, while the biopolymer purification was done via the methanol-ethanol treatment, after which the biomass estimation was done through spectrophotometric analysis. This was followed by measuring the dry weight of the cells and quantification of the biopolymer produced using the gas chromatography method (GC).

Results: The highest PHA yield was obtained using the octanoic (17 mL in 2000 mL medium) and hexanoic acids (14 mL in 2000 mL medium) as the precursors. As a result, the octanoic acid - octanoic acid, heptanoic acid - nonanoic acid, and octanoic acid - hexanoic acid were identified as the different precursors that supported the quantity of PHA obtained.

Conclusion: Among the 4 types of structurally related substrates, the Pseudomonas putida ICCF 319 strain showed a preference for the C8 sublayer for the biosynthesis of the elastomeric PHAs composed predominantly of more C8 monomers than the C6 and C10.