Bacillus subtilis as potential producer for polyhydroxyalkanoates

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polymers produced by microbes to overcome environmental stress. Commercial production of PHAs is limited by the high cost of production compared to conventional plastics. Another hindrance is the brittle nature and low strength of polyhydroxybutyrate (P...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMicrobial cell factories Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 38
Main Authors Singh, Mamtesh, Patel, Sanjay Ks, Kalia, Vipin C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England BioMed Central Ltd 20.07.2009
BioMed Central
BMC
Subjects
Biomedical engineering
Poisoning
Polyhydroxybutyrate
Polymers
Review
Soil inoculation
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Summary:Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polymers produced by microbes to overcome environmental stress. Commercial production of PHAs is limited by the high cost of production compared to conventional plastics. Another hindrance is the brittle nature and low strength of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), the most widely studied PHA. The needs are to produce PHAs, which have better elastomeric properties suitable for biomedical applications, preferably from inexpensive renewable sources to reduce cost. Certain unique properties of Bacillus subtilis such as lack of the toxic lipo-polysaccharides, expression of self-lysing genes on completion of PHA biosynthetic process - for easy and timely recovery, usage of biowastes as feed enable it to compete as potential candidate for commercial production of PHA.
ISSN:1475-2859
1475-2859
DOI:10.1186/1475-2859-8-38