Fk. Young et al., MICROBIAL-PRODUCTION OF POLY-BETA-HYDROXYBUTYRIC ACID FROM D-XYLOSE AND LACTOSE BY PSEUDOMONAS-CEPACIA, Applied and environmental microbiology, 60(11), 1994, pp. 4195-4198
Poly-beta-hydroxybutyrc acid (PHB) was produced from xylose and lactos
e by using Pseudomonas cepacia. Approximately 50% PHB (grams of PHB to
tal/grams of biomass total) was produced. With a laser-based fluoresce
nt probe, beta-galactosidase activity aas shown to be induced in P. ce
pacia cells grown on lactose but not in those grown on glucose or xylo
se. P. cepacia has the potential to produce biodegradable thermoplasti
cs from hemicellulosic hydrolysates and cheese whey.