Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons^™

Biotechnological Improvements Of Bio-Based Fuels And Lubricants: Characterization Of Genes For Branched Chain Fatty Acids And Mono-Acyl Esters, Yuqin Jin

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

The goals of the research in this dissertation are to generate the fundamental technologies that can be used to improve the production and quality of vegetable-oil based biodiesel and biolubricants. Specifically, we sought to test the hypothesis that branched chain fatty acids (BCFAs) can substitute for unsaturated fatty acids in maintaining fluidityin an organism. Toward this goal, we examined the utility of two Bacillus keto-acyl synthase III (KASIII) coding genes (yhfB and yjaX) in producing BCFAs. In conducting this research it was necessary to examine if the E. coli KASIII gene (fabH) was essential for initiating fatty acid biosynthesis and ...