Molecular Cloning of Polyhydroxyalkanoate Synthesis Operon from Aeromonas hydrophila and Its Expression in Escherichia coli

The polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis operon was cloned from Aeromonas hydrophila CGMCC 0911. Heterogeneous expression of the cloned polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis operon in Escherichia coli resulted in accumulation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3hydroxyhexanoate) consisting of 13.9 mol % 3-hydroxyhexanoate up to 29.2 wt % of cell dry weight when grown in lauric acid. The cell dry weight of recombinant E. coli harboring the polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis operon was improved to 1.7 g L^-1, which was much higher than that of 0.3 g L^-1 of the wild type E. coli. Coexpression of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase gene (yafH) from E. coli and Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene (vgb) from Vitreoscilla together with the whole A. hydrophila CGMCC 0911 polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis operon facilitated cell growth and polyhydroxyalkanoate accumulation in E. coli. When yafH was coexpressed together with the polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis operon, the poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) content was increased from 29.2 to 52.1 wt %, and the cell dry weight was also increased slightly from 1.70 to 1.86 g L^-1. Coexpression of vgb gene could further enhance the cell dry weight to 2.0 g L^-1 and the polyhydroxyalkanoate content to 60.7 wt %.