Chemically Intractable No More: In Vivo Incorporation of "Click"-Ready Fatty Acids into...

Poly-[(R)-3-hydroxyalkanoate] biopolymers, or PHAs, are biocompatible and biodegradable polyesters that can be produced by diverse microbial strains. PHA polymers have found widespread uses in applications ranging from sustainable replacements of nonbiodegradable bulk-commodity plastics to biomaterials. However, further expansion into other markets and industries has generally been limited by the inability to chemically modify these polymers. Recently, our lab engineered E. coli LSBJ, a microbial strain able to produce PHA copolymers with controlled unit compositions from simple and accessible fatty acid feedstocks. We envisioned meaningfully broadening the application spectrum of these materials via production of chemically tractable PHA biopolymers containing "click"-ready chemical functionalities. With a myriad of applications in mind, in this study we demonstrate the synthesis and biopolymerization of a panel of ω-azido fatty acids and take the first exploratory steps toward demonstrating their conjugation via a strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) reaction. The convenience of accessing these materials will open the door to new applications for functionalized PHA polymers.