Abstract:

The methane monooxygenase of methanotrophs is capable of catalyzing propene to produce epoxypropane directly in one step, without formation of by-products except water.Compared with the chemical synthesis method for production of epoxypropane, the biosynthesis has promising potential due to the mild reaction conditions, high selectivity and environmental friendliness.In this paper,the conditions were optimized for production of epoxypropane from propene with Methylosinus trichosporim OB3b whole cells cultivated by the traditional method, including temperatures, initial propene concentrations,sodium formate and MgCl₂ concentrations, which are important factors affecting the epoxypropane biosythesis.Based on the optimization results, the performance of epoxypropane production carried out with M. trichosporium OB3b of high cell density was investigated,which was obtained by a novel rapid cultivation method developed by the authors.The final concentration of epoxypropane was almost four times of the highest productivity reported so far.

Key words: 甲烷氧化菌, 高密度培养, 整细胞催化, 环氧丙烷

摘要： 甲烷氧化菌的甲烷单加氧酶（MMO）可以在常温常压下直接一步氧化丙烯生成环氧丙烷，而且除了产物外只有水产生，和目前化学工业所使用的方法相比具有条件温和、选择性高等特点。在优化了甲烷氧化菌Methylosinus. trichosporium OB3b整细胞催化丙烯生产环氧丙烷的各个参数的基础上，选用本实验室建立起来的高密度培养甲烷氧化菌的方法来培养细胞，并研究该细胞催化丙烯生成环氧丙烷的工艺特性，结果可使环氧丙烷的积累浓度达到了目前文献已报道最高浓度的约4倍。

关键词: 甲烷氧化菌, 高密度培养, 整细胞催化, 环氧丙烷