Fig. 5

Photoproduction of enzymes and metabolites from co-culture. Flexible functionalization of co-cultures was accomplished via the addition of heterotrophs capable of producing target compounds (a). Alpha-amylase is naturally produced and secreted by B. subtilis strain 168. Supernatants from 24 hour cultures of B. subtilis 168 alone or in co-culture with cscB ⁺ S. elongatus were tested for enzymatic activity (b). Western blots also reveal the presence of alpha-amylase in co-cultures containing IPTG (c). E. coli is capable of making PHB when carrying the pAET41 plasmid. Batch co-cultures of E. coli (with or without pAET41 to enable PHB production) and cscB ⁺ S. elongatus were cultivated for one week with or without IPTG to induce sugar. PHB content of the total culture was analyzed (d). Filled circles represent measured values; hollow circles placed on the x-axis represent cultures in which no PHB was formed or was produced at levels below the detection limit. Thick horizontal lines represent the average measurement for each condition while thin horizontal lines represent one standard deviation from the mean