Steinbüchel A, Hein S
Institut für Mikrobiologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstrasse 3, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. 2001;71:81-123. doi: 10.1007/3-540-40021-4_3.
Intensive research on the physiology, biochemistry, and molecular genetics of the metabolism of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) during the last 15 years has revealed a dramatic increase of our knowledge on the biosynthesis of these polyesters in bacteria. This mainly very basic research has revealed several new, hitherto not described enzymes and pathways. In addition, many genes encoding the enzymes of these pathways and in particular the key enzyme of PHA biosynthesis, PHA synthase, were cloned and characterized at a molecular level. This knowledge was utilized to establish PHA biosynthesis in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, which were unable to synthesize PHAs, and to apply the methodology of metabolic engineering, thus opening new perspectives for the production of various PHAs by fermentation biotechnology or agriculture in economically feasible processes. This contribution summarizes the properties of PHA synthases and gives an overview on the genes for these enzymes and other enzymes of PHA biosynthesis that have been cloned and are available. It also summarizes our current knowledge on the regulation at the enzyme and gene level of PHA biosynthesis in bacteria.
在过去15年里，对聚羟基脂肪酸酯（PHA）代谢的生理学、生物化学和分子遗传学进行的深入研究，使我们对细菌中这些聚酯生物合成的认识有了显著增加。这项主要基于基础的研究揭示了几种新的、迄今未被描述的酶和途径。此外，许多编码这些途径中酶的基因，特别是PHA生物合成的关键酶PHA合酶，在分子水平上被克隆和表征。这些知识被用于在许多原本无法合成PHA的原核生物和真核生物中建立PHA生物合成，并应用代谢工程方法，从而为通过发酵生物技术或农业以经济可行的方式生产各种PHA开辟了新的前景。本文综述了PHA合酶的特性，并概述了已克隆并可获得的这些酶以及PHA生物合成中其他酶的基因。它还总结了我们目前对细菌中PHA生物合成在酶和基因水平上调控的认识。
