The phototrophic purple non-sulfur bacteria Rhodomicrobium spp. are novel chassis for bioplastic production

Petroleum-based plastics levy significant environmental and economic costs that can be alleviated with sustainably sourced, biodegradable, and bio-based polymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). However, industrial-scale production of PHAs faces barriers stemming from insufficient product yields and high costs. To address these challenges, we must look beyond the current suite of microbes for PHA production and investigate non-model organisms with versatile metabolisms. In that vein, we assessed PHA production by the photosynthetic purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) Rhodomicrobium vannielii and Rhodomicrobium udaipurense. We show that both species accumulate PHA across photo-heterotrophic, photo-hydrogenotrophic, photo-ferrotrophic, and photo-electrotrophic growth conditions, with either ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl) or dinitrogen gas (N₂) as nitrogen sources. Our data indicate that nitrogen source plays a significant role in dictating PHA synthesis, with N₂ fixation promoting PHA production during photoheterotrophy and photoelectrotrophy but inhibiting production during photohydrogenotrophy and photoferrotrophy. We observed the highest PHA titres (up to 44.08 mg/L, or 43.61% cell dry weight) when cells were grown photoheterotrophically on sodium butyrate with N₂, while production was at its lowest during photoelectrotrophy (as low as 0.04 mg/L, or 0.16% cell dry weight). We also find that photohydrogenotrophically grown cells supplemented with NH₄Cl exhibit the highest electron yields – up to 58.89% – while photoheterotrophy demonstrated the lowest (0.27%–1.39%). Finally, we highlight superior electron conversion and PHA production compared to a related PNSB, Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1. This study illustrates the value of studying non-model organisms like Rhodomicrobium for sustainable PHA production and indicates future directions for exploring PNSB metabolisms.