Rehm B H, Steinbüchel A
Institut für Mikrobiologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany.
Int J Biol Macromol. 1999 Jun-Jul;25(1-3):3-19. doi: 10.1016/s0141-8130(99)00010-0.
Polyhydroxyalkanoic acids (PHA) represent a complex class of storage polyesters that are synthesized by a wide range of different gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as by some Archaea and that are deposited as insoluble cytoplasmic inclusions. PHA synthases, which are the key enzymes for PHA biosynthesis, have been characterized in much detail. At present 42 PHA synthase structural genes from 38 different bacteria have been cloned, and from 30 genes the nucleotide sequences were obtained. The strategies successfully employed to clone these genes and the current knowledge on the organization of the PHA synthase genes and other genes encoding proteins related to PHA metabolism will be compiled. In addition, the primary structures of the 30 PHA synthases were aligned and analyzed with respect to highly conserved amino acids and biochemical features. The direction, in which research should proceed, in order to increase our knowledge on biosynthesis of PHAs and to utilize this knowledge for the development of technically and economically feasible processes for the production of these polyesters will be outlined.
聚羟基脂肪酸酯（PHA）是一类复杂的储存性聚酯，由多种不同的革兰氏阳性菌和革兰氏阴性菌以及一些古细菌合成，并以不溶性细胞质内含物的形式沉积。PHA合酶是PHA生物合成的关键酶，已得到详细表征。目前，已克隆了来自38种不同细菌的42个PHA合酶结构基因，并获得了其中30个基因的核苷酸序列。将汇编成功用于克隆这些基因的策略以及目前关于PHA合酶基因和其他编码与PHA代谢相关蛋白质的基因组织的知识。此外，还对30种PHA合酶的一级结构进行了比对，并针对高度保守的氨基酸和生化特性进行了分析。将概述为增加我们对PHA生物合成的了解以及将这些知识用于开发技术和经济上可行的这些聚酯生产工艺而应开展的研究方向。
