Production of Bio plastic

Himanshu Ranjan Shende

17112022

Abstract
Global plastic waste generation is rising, resulting in global plastic waste discharges. A
creative approach to mitigate emissions would certainly be needed. Increased disposal of
plastic waste is not a holistic way in itself. Besides, lessening the usage of fossil-based plastic
is a requisite part of sustainability. Bio-based plastics are gaining approval as a market
alternative to fossil-based plastics. According to the research, materials with comparable
performance properties can be obtained using biological feed stocks rather than fossil-based
sources. "Biomaterials" refers to chemically unrelated compounds produced by
microorganisms (or a portion of them) under diverse environmental circumstances.
Bioplastics are a significant group of biomaterials. Polyesters with physicochemical
properties comparable to petrochemical plastics that are commonly dispersed in nature and
accumulate intracellularly in microorganisms as storage granules. These polymers are
typically formed through various metabolic pathways from hydroxy-acyl–CoA derivatives.
The monomer synthesis, macromolecular arrangement, and physical properties of bioplastics
vary depending on their microbial origin. The majority of them are biodegradable and
biocompatible, presenting them as highly captivating from a biotechnological standpoint.

Introduction
Synthetic plastics are one of humanity's best creations, having grown into a big industry and
becoming an indispensable part of our daily lives. They are engineered in such an approach
that they are resistant to natural and chemical breakdowns, enabling them to produce
consistent and long-lasting effects. The long-term longevity of the discarded plastic has
emerged as a major environmental issue. As our reliance on industrial plastics and their
countless materials has resulted in waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions, recent
advancements are focused on discovering a bio-green replacement for plastic with minimal
environmental side effects.
Biomaterials are natural products that are synthesized and catabolized by numerous
organisms and have attained extensive biotechnological applications. They can be digested by
various species (biodegradable) and do not induce adverse effects in the host (biocompatible),
giving them a significant advantage over other traditional synthetic materials [1, 2].
Bioplastics are a subset of biomaterials. They are polyesters made by a variety of microbes
cultivated under various nutrient and environmental conditions [3]. These polymers, which
are typically lipids in nature, aggregate as storage materials (in the form of free, amorphous,
liquid granules), supporting microbial survival under stress circumstances. Depending on the
organism, the number and size of granules, monomer composition, macromolecular shape,
and physicochemical properties vary [4,5]. Most bioplastics include various β-oxidation
intermediates [(R)-3-hydroxyacyl–CoAs] as monomers, which through the condensation of
the carboxy function are enzymatically polymerized present in a monomeric– CoA thioester,
with the 3-hydroxy group (or the thiol group) of the next one [1, 3, 6]. Distinct bioplastics
with peculiar monomers (e.g., 4-, 5-, or 6-hydroxy alkanoic acids or glutamic acid) are
synthesized by various pathways, implying that biosynthetic enzymes are broadly dispersed
and that the development of a certain form of polyester is a strain-specific case.
The high processing and recovery expenses of bioplastics are currently the key constraints for
bulk production [3, 15, 16, 17]. However, genetic and metabolic engineering also supported
their biosynthesis in a variety of recombinant organisms (bacteria, yeasts, or transgenic
plants) [18-21], enhancing output yields and lowering overall expenses [15, 16, 22, 23].
Many bioplastics' structures, biosynthetic pathways, and applications are now well
understood. Aerobes, anaerobes, photosynthetic bacteria, archaebacteria, and lower
eukaryotes are among the microbes that can accumulate and catabolize these polyesters. PHB
(poly-3-hydroxybutyrate), PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate), and their derivatives are the most
commonly developed microbial bioplastics. Microorganisms can, however, create other
polyesters.

Biosynthesis, catabolism, and regulation of PHB (poly-3-hydroxybutyrate)

phaCBA cluster encodes three proteins in Ralstonia eutropha PHB metabolic genes: PhaA
(β-ketothiolase) catalyzes the synthesis of acetoacetyl–CoA from acetyl–CoA; PhaB
(NADPH-oxidoreductase) stereospecifically reduces acetoacetyl–CoA to (R)-3-
hydroxybutyryl–CoA; and PhaC (PHB polymerase) facilitates the incorporation of (R)-3-
hydroxybutyryl-CoA enantiomers in the expanding polymer (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Pathway of PHB synthesis

PhaC is most active toward monomers with fewer than five carbon atoms, but it can also
synthesize polymers with small amounts of longer monomers (C6–C8).
The PHB pathway appears to be complicated in its control. PHB synthesis is repressed by an
accumulation of acetyl CoA, while all metabolic or environmental factors that induce a
decrease in the pool of acetyl–CoA initiate or restore PHB synthesis. Moreover, B.
megaterium PhaC is synthesized as an inactive protein that allows a separate polypeptide
(PhaR) to be transformed into a functional enzyme, implying that PHB regulation is
influenced by a variety of environmental, metabolic, and genetic signals [14].
2 other proteins, PhaZ and PhaP (phaZ and phaP gene products), also play a role in the
catabolism (PhaZ) or stabilization (PhaP) of the PHB granule. PhaZ is depolymerase (an
esterase-like enzyme) that catalyzes the release of (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate from polymers (or
oligomers longer than dimers) [7, 8]. In the lack of PHB, PhaZ is synthesized as an inactive
protein that needs PHB and an activator (which may be trypsin) to be converted into an active
enzyme [9]. Certain findings indicate that either PhaZ is synthesized as a proenzyme, or the
attack of PhaZ to the granule surface needs the involvement of a proteolytic enzyme [6].
Recent research has revealed that the degradation of PHBs is a complicated process involving
multiple depolymerase (PhaZ1, PhaZ2, and PhaZ3) as well as other as-yet-unidentified
enzymes [7].
PhaP (phasin) is a low-molecular-weight protein that increases PHB production by binding to
the granules (it controls the size, amount, and surface-to-volume ratio of PHB inclusions) [1,
3, 6, 10]. It was recently discovered that the production and aggregation of PhaP is a PHB-
dependent process that requires the involvement of PhaR. (an auto regulated repressor) [11,
12]. However, the size and number of PHB inclusions are not just influenced by PhaP but
also the amount of PhaC in the cells. In recombinant bacteria, an accumulation of polymerase
results in the development of a large number of PHB inclusions containing low-molecular-
weight polymers, while a lack of PhaC results in the formation of a few granules containing
higher molecular weight polymers [6, 13]. PHB is degraded extracellularly by a variety of
microbial depolymerase (structurally similar to hydrolases) as well as a variety of
environmental factors.

Conclusion
Using genetic and metabolic engineering techniques, various polyesters with plastic
properties have been identified. The discovery of novel polyesters utilizing recombinant
microbes points that the biosynthetic boundaries found in the original strain are not enforced
by the anabolic enzymes' strict substrate specificity, but rather by distinct physiological
factors. As a result, if the right organism was chosen and genetically modified, several other
bioplastics with diverse shapes, features, and uses may be obtained. Because of their
biodegradability, bioplastics will largely substitute petroleum-based plastics. It is further
practical to adopt bioplastics because they do not contaminate the soil and can be used
extensively to subdue waste levels.

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