3-hydroxydecanoic acid (3HD) is an interesting intermediate for chemical synthesis of many valuable compounds. A novel method to produce 3HD by recombinant bacteria was constructed in Escherichia coli HB101 and Pseudomonas putida GPpl04, respectively. Simultaneous expression of both phaG encoding (R)-3-hydroxydecanoyl-ACP:CoA transacylase and tesB encoding thioesteraseⅡin E. coli HB101 increased 3HD production approximate 1.7-folds compared with the expression of phaG gene alone under identical conditions. In addition, when the tesB gene was introduced into the strain, the polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase negative strain P. putida GPpl04 produced extracellular 3HD. Thus, a novel pathway to produce 3HD by recombinant Pseudomonas was constructed. It was also found that the ratio of carbon source to nitrogen source affected the production of 3HD by recombinant P. putida harboring tesB gene. Nitrogen limitation seemed to promote the extracellular 3HD production.
A series of polyhydroxyalkanoate(PHA)copolymers consisting of short-chain-length(SCL)and medium-chain-length(MCL)3-hydroxyalkanoate(3HA)monomers were synthesized in the recombinant Ralstonia eutropha PHB - 4 harboring a low-substrate-specificity PHA synthase PhaC2Ps from Pseudomonas stutzeri 1317. These polyesters,whose monomer compositions varied widely in chain length,were purified and characterized by acetone fractionation,nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR),gel-permeation chromatography(GPC),and differential scanning calorimetry(DSC).This was the first time that the physical properties of PHA copolymers polymerized by PhaC2Ps were characterized.The results indicated that the variation in MCL 3HA contents did not have an obvious influence on the molecular weights of these PHA copolymers but was effective in changing their physical properties. The variation in the thermal property of PHA copolymers with 3-hydroxyoctanoate(3HO)content was also inves- tigated in this study.
