Abstract
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a class of bio-polymers naturally synthesized by cyanobacteria with the advantage of being alternative to petrochemical based plastic. Their versatile application in medical, agricultural and technical fields increased the market request, especially due to their environmental-friendly features. Cyanobacteria possess a high PHAs production potential not yet well known at the genetic and enzymatic level. In this work we identified, isolated and sequenced the genes responsible for PHA production (phaA, phaB, phaE and phaC) in Synechocystis cf. salina PCC6909 (syn: Gloeothece membranacea), of which genome data are not yet available. Performing an in silico analysis, we illustrate here the Pha proteins (PhaA, PhaB, PhaE and PhaC) phylogeny and the prediction of their structure, i.e., secondary folding, topology, 3D model and clefts localization. Our results are discussed in the context of future applications of Synechocystis cf. salina PCC6909 Pha genes for heterologous PHA production and strain improvement.
Highlights
Together with poly-ethylene, poly-ethyleneterephthalate and poly-lactic acid (PLA), Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) represent a class of naturally bio-degradable and environmental friendly polyesters
A similarity search analysis performed by BLASTn tool recognized two open reading frames of 993 bp and 1137 bp merged into the DNA fragment of 2300 bp, showing identity of 89% and 88% to phaESyn6803 and phaCSyn6803 genes, respectively
The genome co-linearity was demonstrated for phaA and phaB and for phaE and phaC genes but taken together phaA-B and phaE-C were located in different genomic loci, in accord with the PHA gene distribution in Synechocystis sp
Summary
Together with poly-ethylene (bioPE), poly-ethyleneterephthalate (bioPET) and poly-lactic acid (PLA), Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) represent a class of naturally bio-degradable and environmental friendly polyesters. These compounds cover a wide range of possible applications and result in an advantage for the life in the Western countries [1,2]. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have attractive physical properties such as thermoplasticity, low crystallinity and high UV-stability [3,4]. These characteristics can be tuned for tailor-made applications like elastic coatings for disposable items [5]. PHAs production via microbial cell factories acquired a significant interest with the ultimate goal of replacing oil-derived synthetic plastic materials, even if the information at the genetic and enzymatic level are still limited [9]
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