4 Department of Botany, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA A pronase-sensitive, 14 kDa component of bacteroids of Bradyrhizobium japonicum 1-1 IOARS was identified and characterized using monoclonal antibodies. This component was weakly synthesized or was missing in bacteroids of a unique Nod+ Fixmutant, ARS2525. Both the 14 kDa component and poly-/?-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) were located in th...

* Author for correspondence: , Professor and Head, Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India. Tel: 91-11-26596109, Fax : 91-1126582282, Email : [email protected]. Abstract. Synthetic polymers or plastics have versatile qualities of strength, lightness, and protection and were initially developed for their...

Fractionation of fully sporulated cultures of Bacillus thuringiensis by density gradient centrifugation in NaBr produced two bands which were identified as poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate. This technique generated high yields of membrane-bound and unbound granules of exceptional purity and degree of polymerization.

Poly[3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate(3HV)] was produced in recombinant Escherichia coli LS5218 from ruthenium-catalyzed cellulose hydrolysate and propionate. The strain was found to be resistant to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), which is a major inhibitory byproduct generated in the cellulose hydrolysis reaction. The 3HV fraction was successfully regulated in the range of 5.6-40 mol%.

Ralstonia sp. strain MD27, a novel biopolymer-degrading betaproteobacterium, was isolated from compost samples. This organism has been shown to utilize the biopolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] as a carbon source for growth. We report the draft genome sequence of MD27 with an estimated total sequence length of 5.9 Mb.

Bis(imino)phenoxide complexes of zirconium possess spectacular reactivity towards the solvent-free polymerization of cyclic ester monomers and lactides. Polymerization of lactide is living and the resulting product has exceptionally high number average molecular weights (Mn). Polymerization of β-butyrolactone gives syndiotactic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) with good Mn and molecular weight distribut...

Haloferax mediterranei, an extremely halophilic archaeon, has shown promise for production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) from unrelated cheap carbon sources. Here we report the complete genome (3,904,707 bp) of H. mediterranei CGMCC 1.2087, consisting of one chromosome and three megaplasmids.

Nitrobacter agilis, grown through seven transfers heterotrophically in the absence of nitrite, was examined in the electron microscope. The ultrastructure of such cells closely resembled that of autotrophically grown N. agilis. It was thus futher established that the organisms growing heterotrophically were indeed N. agilis and, therefore, that N. agilis is a facultative autotroph. Acetate inco...