Production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] with high P(3HB) content by recombinant Escherichia coli harboring the Alcaligenes latus P(3HB) biosynthesis genes and the E-coli ftsZ gene

Filamentation-suppressed recombinant Escherichia coli strain harboring the Alcaligenes latus polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthesis genes and the E. coli ftsZ gene was constructed and cultivated for the production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] with high concentration and high content. By the pH-stat fed-batch culture of this recombinant E. coli strain XL1-Blue(pJC5), the final cell concentration and P(3HB) concentration obtained in 44.25 h were 172.2 g cell dry weight/l and 141.9 g P(3HB)/l, respectively, resulting in productivity of 3.21g P(3HB)/l-h. More importantly, the P(3HB) content obtained was 82.4 wt %, which was significantly higher than that obtained with the recombinant E. coli harboring only the PHA biosynthesis genes.