Coupled effects of methane monooxygenase and nitrogen source on growth and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate(PHB)production of Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b

The coupled effects of nitrogen source and methane monooxygenase（MMO） on the growth and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate（PHB） accumulation capacity of methanotrophs were explored.The ammonia-supplied methanotrophs expressing soluble MMO（s MMO） grew at the highest rate, while N2-fixing bacteria expressing particulate MMO（p MMO） grew at the lowest rate. Further study showed that more hydroxylamine and nitrite was formed by ammonia-supplied bacteria containing p MMO, which might cause their slightly lower growth rate. The highest PHB content（51.0%） was obtained under nitrogen-limiting conditions with the inoculation of nitrate-supplied bacteria containing p MMO. Ammoniasupplied bacteria also accumulated a higher content of PHB（45.2%） with the expression of p MMO, while N2-fixing bacteria containing p MMO only showed low PHB production capacity（32.1%）. The maximal PHB contents of bacteria expressing s MMO were low, with no significant change under different nitrogen source conditions. The low MMO activity,low cell growth rate and low PHB production capacity of methanotrophs continuously cultivated with N2 with the expression of p MMO were greatly improved in the cyclic NO3-N2 cultivation regime, indicating that long-term deficiency of nitrogen sources was detrimental to the activity of methanotrophs expressing pMMO.

Construction of a broad-host-range Anderson promoter series and particulate methane monooxygenase promoter variants expand the methanotroph genetic toolbox

Methanotrophic bacteria are currently used industrially for the bioconversion of methane-rich natural gas and anaerobic digestion-derived biogas to valuable products.These bacteria may also serve to mitigate the negative effects of climate change by capturing atmospheric greenhouse gases.Several genetic tools have previously been developed for genetic and metabolic engineering of methanotrophs.However,the available tools for use in methanotrophs are significantly underdeveloped compared to many other industrially relevant bacteria,which hinders genetic and metabolic engineering of these biocatalysts.As such,expansion of the methanotroph genetic toolbox is needed to further our understanding of methanotrophy and develop biotechnologies that leverage these unique microbes for mitigation and conversion of methane to valuable products.Here,we determined the copy number of three broad-host-range plasmids in Methylococcus capsulatus Bath and Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b,representing phylogenetically diverse Gammaproteobacterial and Alphaproteobacterial methanotrophs,respectively.Further,we show that the commonly used synthetic Anderson series promoters are functional and exhibit similar relative activity in M.capsulatus and M.trichosporium OB3b,but the synthetic series had limited range.Thus,we mutagenized the native M.capsulatus particulate methane monooxygenase promoter and identified variants with activity that expand the activity range of synthetic,constitutive promoters functional not only in M.capsulatus,but also in Escherichia coli.Collectively,the tools developed here advance the methanotroph genetic engineering toolbox and represent additional synthetic genetic parts that may have broad applicability in Pseudomonadota bacteria.

Theoretical perspective on mononuclear copper‐oxygen mediated C–H and O–H activations:A comparison between biological and synthetic systems

Dioxygen activations constitute one of core issues in copper-dependent metalloenzymes. Upon O_(2) activation, copper-dependent metalloenzymes such as particulate methane monooxygenases(pM MOs), lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases(LPMOs) and binuclear copper enzymes PHM and DβM, are able to perform various challenging C–H bond activations. Meanwhile, various copper-oxygen core containing complexes have been synthetized to mimic the active species of metalloenzymes. Dioxygen activation by mononuclear copper active site may generate various copper-oxygen intermediates, including Cu(Ⅱ)-superoxo, Cu(Ⅱ)-hydroperoxo, Cu(Ⅱ)-oxyl as well as the Cu(Ⅲ)-hydroxide species. Intriguingly, all these species have been invoked as the potential active intermediates for C–H/O–H activations in either biological or synthetic systems. Due to the poor understanding on reactivities of copper-oxygen complex, the nature of active species in both biological and synthetic systems are highly controversial. In this account, we will compare the reactivities of various mononuclear copper-oxygen species between biological systems and the synthetic systems. The present study is expected to provide the consistent understanding on reactivities of various copper-oxygen active species in both biological and synthetic systems.

Enrichments of methanotrophic–heterotrophic cultures with high poly-β-hydroxybutyrate(PHB) accumulation capacities

Methanotrophic–heterotrophic communities were selectively enriched from sewage sludge to obtain a mixed culture with high levels of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate（PHB）accumulation capacity from methane.Methane was used as the carbon source,N2as sole nitrogen source,and oxygen and Cu content were varied.Copper proved essential for PHB synthesis.All cultures enriched with Cu could accumulate high content of PHB（43.2%–45.9%）,while only small amounts of PHB were accumulated by cultures enriched without Cu（11.9%–17.5%）.Batch assays revealed that communities grown with Cu and a higher O2content synthesized more PHB,which had a wider optimal CH4：O2range and produced a high PHB content（48.7%）even though in the presence of N2.In all methanotrophic–heterotrophic communities,both methanotrophic and heterotrophic populations showed the ability to accumulate PHB.Although methane was added as the sole carbon source,heterotrophs dominated with abundances between 77.2%and 85.6%.All methanotrophs detected belonged to type II genera,which formed stable communities with heterotrophs of different PHB production capacities.