Enhanced production of longer side-chain polyhydroxyalkanoic acid with ω-aromatic group substitution in phaZ-disrupted Pseudomonas fluorescens BM07 mutant through unrelated carbon source cometabolism and salicylic acid β-oxidation inhibition

The deletion of the intracellular polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) depolymerase gene (phaZ) in Pseudomonas fluorescens BM07 was found to increase more efficiently the levels of longer medium-chain-length (MCL) ω-aromatic monomer-units than in the wild-type strain when the cells were grown with a mixture of fructose and MCL ω-aromatic fatty acid in the presence of salicylic acid that is known as a β-oxidation inhibitor in BM07 strain. When 11-phenoxyundecanoic acid was used as co-carbon source, the longest monomer-unit 3-hydroxy-11-phenoxyundecanoate, not reported in literature yet, was incorporated into the polymer chain up to ∼10 mol%. An advantage of salicylic acid inhibition technique is that salicylic acid is not metabolized in BM07 strain, thus, the effective concentration of the inhibitor remaining constant throughout the cultivation. In conclusion, this new technique could be exploited for the enhanced production of side-chain modulated functional MCL–PHA with improved physicochemical properties in P. fluorescens BM07.