Improving carbon and energy distribution by coupling growth and medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoate production from fatty acids by Pseudomonas putida KT2440

The production of medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates by Pseudomonas putida KT2440 from fatty acids leads to the loss of a large proportion of carbon. We studied the possibility of a shift of potentially available energy and carbon towards monitored residual growth during the production phase. A Fed-Batch culture achieving 125.6 g/L of total biomass containing 54.4% (g/g) of medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates was carried out leading to an overall experimental carbon yield of 0.7 Cmole/Cmole. The analysis of modeling fluxes deduced from experimental data indicated how carbon and reduced cofactors (NADH and FADH(2)) were managed to conclude that part of the carbon and reduced cofactors made available by polymer production were used in anabolic pathways. The strategy which consisted in coupled growth and medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoate production enhanced the global yields compared to growth followed by a production phase. The understanding of carbon and energy fluxes distribution allowed deducing optimized culture strategy to perform the highest reported in the literature.