• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.71-79
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• 2000

Two typess of copolyesters, poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid-co-4-hydroxy-butyric acid)[P(3HB-co-4HB] and poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid-co-3-hydroxyvaleric acid)[P(3HB-co-3HV)], with various monomer ratios and different degree of microstructural heterogeneity were synthesized from Ralstonia eutropha H16 and Hydrogenophaga pseudoflava by using ${\gamma}$-butyrolactone and ${\gamma}$-valerolactone, respectively. The two bacteria showed a large difference in the utilization of ${\gamma}$-butyrolactone for cell growth and PHA synthesis. H. pseudoflava synthesized P(3HB-co-4HB) copolyesters with a wide range of 4HB content from 13 to 96 mol% depending on culture conditions, whiel R. eutropha H16 was able to synthesize the copolyesters containing less than 20 mol% of 4HB. An increase in the 4HB content in the P(3HB-co-4HB) copolyesters synthesized by H. pseud-oflava induced an lowering of their melting temperatures as well as their enthalpies of fusion. The increase in the 4HB content, however, increased the rate of degradation by an extracellular P(3HB) depolymerase. NMR spectros-copy and differential scanning calorimetry showed that the P(3HB-co-4HB) copolyesters from H. pseudoflava were generally microstructurally heterogeneous. The P(3HB-co-4HB) copolyesters) synthesized by R. eutropha H16 were rather random copolymers showing less microstructural heterogeneity than those synthesized by H. pseudoflava. The NMR D value analysis suggested that the monomer distribution of the P(3HB-co-3HV) copolymers from the two bacteria were relatively random.