Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.
Biomacromolecules. 2009 Apr 13;10(4):660-9. doi: 10.1021/bm801394s.
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are naturally occurring organic polyesters that are of interest for industrial and biomedical applications. These polymers are synthesized by most bacteria in times of unbalanced nutrient availability from a variety of substrates and they are deposited intracellularly as insoluble spherical inclusions or PHA granules. The granules consist of a polyester core, surrounded by a boundary layer with embedded or attached proteins that include the PHA synthase, phasins, depolymerizing enzymes, and regulatory proteins. Apart from ongoing industrial interest in the material PHA, more recently there has also been increasing interest in applications of the PHA granules as nano-/micro-beads after it was conceived that fusions to the granule associated proteins (GAPs) provide a way to immobilize target proteins at the granule surface. This review gives an overview of PHA granules in general, including biogenesis and GAPs, and focuses on their potential use as nano-/micro-beads in biotechnological and biomedical applications.
聚羟基烷酸酯（PHAs）是天然存在的有机聚酯，因其在工业和生物医学领域的应用而受到关注。这些聚合物由大多数细菌在营养物质供应不平衡时从各种基质中合成，并以不溶性球形内含物或 PHA 颗粒的形式在细胞内沉积。颗粒由聚酯核心组成，周围是一层边界层，其中嵌入或附着有包括 PHA 合酶、phasins、解聚酶和调节蛋白在内的蛋白质。除了人们对材料 PHA 的持续工业兴趣外，最近人们对 PHA 颗粒作为纳米/微珠的应用也越来越感兴趣，因为人们认为与颗粒相关的蛋白质（GAPs）的融合为固定目标蛋白质提供了一种方法在颗粒表面。这篇综述概述了 PHA 颗粒的一般情况，包括生物发生和 GAPs，并重点介绍了它们作为生物技术和生物医学应用中的纳米/微珠的潜在用途。
