ACCUMULATION OF POLY(3-HYDROXYBUTYRIC ACID) AND OVERPRODUCTION OF EXOPOLYSACCHARIDES IN A MUTANT OF A METHYLOTROPHIC BACTERIUM

The pink-pigmented facultatively methylotrophic bacterium Methylobacterium rhodesianum MB 126 is able to grow on methanol as the sole source of carbon and energy. Under certain conditions, e.g., limitation of ammonium, phosphate, or oxygen, carbon from methanol is channeled into poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid) (PHB) whereas other polymers or metabolites are hardly overproduced. A mutant of this strain, which we isolated after chemical mutagenesis, is impaired in its ability to synthesize PHB. Under the conditions mentioned above, the mutant still accumulated PHB, but in the absence of ammonium it simultaneously synthesized PHB and a considerable amount of an exopolysaccharide. This phenomenon was surprising insofar as the wild type did not produce exopolysaccharide in such amounts. An attempt was made to elucidate and discuss the possible reasons for these findings.