Production of epoxypropane from propene catalyzed by whole cells of Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b

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.