biopolymers-and-bioplastics-2016_posters-accepted-abstracts

11 / 23

Notes:
Page 70
Biopolymers and Bioplastics 2016
September 12-14, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 5(Suppl) J Bioremed Biodeg 2016
ISSN: 2155-6199 JBRBD, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
September 12-14, 2016 San Antonio, USA
3rd International Conference and Exhibition onBiopolymers & Bioplastics
Masoud Hamidi et al., J Bioremed Biodeg 2016, 7:5(Suppl)
Application of polyhydroxyalkanoates and exopolysaccharides produced by Haloarchaea in biopolymer
and bioplastic industry
Masoud Hamidi, Khashayar Modaberi, Rasul Mirzaei and Fatemeh Karimitabar
Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Haloarchaea are a distinct evolutionary branch of the domain Archaea, which generally comprise the leading prokaryotic
population of hypersaline environments. Haloarchaea mainly produces two major groups of macromolecules that are
called exopolysaccharide (EPS) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). EPSs have several industrial applications, for instance their
biosurfactant activity in bioremediation of oil-spilled sites, and its role in pharmaceutical and food-processing fields. PHAs
are a group of polyesters. In the presence of excess carbon substrates, certain Haloarchaea synthesize PHAs and deposit them
as energy storage intracellular granules. PHAs have thermoplastic features and are biocompatible and biodegradable “green
plastics” that are considered as potential substitutes for petrochemical-derived plastics. Therefore they can be employed for
daily supplies (plastic bags), biomedical materials (artificial blood vessels) and as biodegradable carriers for slow delivery
of drugs. PHAs can be produced from reproducible resources such as carbohydrates, which makes their manufacturing
independent of the availability of finite fossil feed stocks and also their biodegradation process resulting merely in CO2 and
H2 O, the basic materials for the photosynthesis by green plants. The PHAs that are produced by Haloarchaea have several
benefits in comparison with those from members of the domain Bacteria; First, they are produced from unrelated cheap
carbon sources; second, there is no need for strict sterilization, and third, their isolation is much easier. The archaeon Haloferax
mediterranei is the best PHA producer of the family Halobacteriaceae until now. PHAs currently are industrially produced
under the commercial name “Mirel” by the company Metabolix in USA using a recombinant Escherichia coli strain.
Biography
Masoud Hamidi has completed his PhD from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. He is Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in Guilan University
of Medical Sciences. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals.