Wageesha Sharma

Application of methanotrophs to produce biopolymers by oxidizing biogas/methane can turn out to be a transformative concept because of its double fold advantage of producing the biopolymers and tackling the issue of global warming. Our recent search of the databases for potential methanotrophs have revealed the wide-spread distribution of methane oxidizing genes (e.g., MMO) in unexplored micro-organisms most of which have not been reported for methane oxidation. Studies on feasibility of converting methane into PHA has been attempted using well known methanotrophs including members of the genus Methylobacter, Methylocystis, Methylobacterium, Methylocystis and Methylosinus, Methylococcus, and Methylomonas (Type II α-proteobacter genera), which use Serine pathway. It will be interesting to produce PHA using RuMP- pathway dependent γ-proteobacteria, and potentially other unexplored methanotrophs. We aim to test these unexplored methanotrophs for the biochemical features of the unique PHA enzymes and their proposed catalytic mechanisms characterize the produced PHAs for industrial applications, study the genetic and metabolic mechanism behind methane to PHA bioconversion and improve the properties and/or Yield of Bioconversion.