Solvent-tolerant bioconversion: Construction and analysis of a phenol producing Pseudomonas putida S12

Solvent-tolerant bioconversion: Construction and analysis of a phenol producing Pseudomonas putida S12

Wierckx, N.J.P.

De Winde, J.H. (promotor)

Applied Sciences

2009-02-16

Organic chemicals play a fundamental role in modern civilization. Today, almost all of these chemicals are produced from oil. This leads to pollution and creates a dependency on often politically unstable oil producing countries. It is possible to make the same chemicals from sugar, using microorganisms. Sugar is produced from plants, and is therefore an environmentally friendlier and almost inexhaustible resource. Unfortunately many interesting chemicals are toxic to microorganims at low concentrations. An exception to this is the solvent-tolerant bacterium Pseudomonas putida S12, which can grow at high concentrations of very toxic chemicals. This thesis describes how, with the aid of genetic engineering and advanced analysis techniques, P. putida S12 were created that efficiently convert sugars into phenol and para-hydroxystyrene. These chemicals are used as a raw material for the production of plastics, medicines and cosmetics. In the future, this work can contribute to the development of "green" production processes for a whole new range of chemicals, which is of great economical and environmental benefit.

bioconversion
solvent-tolerance
pseudomonas putida
phenol
p-hydroxystyrene
transcriptomics
metabolic flux analysis

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:81694464-1a23-4f33-a7be-2695e94fffac

978-90-9023963-7

Institutional Repository

doctoral thesis

(c) 2009 N.J.P Wierckx