Use of Vegetable Oils as Substrates for Medium-chain-length Polyhydroxyalkanoates Production by Recombinant Escherichia coli

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are thermoplastic, biodegradable polyesters synthesized by some bacteria from renewable carbon sources. However, their application is limited by high production costs. To reduce them, recombinant strains that use diverse carbon sources have been developed. In this work, PHA production by recombinant Escherichia coli (JM101), harboring the structural gene for medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, was investigated using several vegetable oils (cotton, rice, canola, dendê (palm), sunflower, corn, olive and soybean) and cheese whey as a supplement. The highest PHA yield obtained was 11.64% PHA (20.3 mol% hydroxyhexanoate, 9.9 mol% hydroxyoctanoate, .0 mol% hydroxyodecanoate and 45.8 mol% hydroxydodecanoate) in a mineral medium containing 1% (v v-1) dendê (palm) oil and 5% (v v-1) cheese whey.