ABSTRACT
A series of hydrocarbons having two carbon atoms, such as ethane and ethylene, are important starting materials for petrochemicals including plastics and synthetic fibers. This chapter focuses on the microbial production of ethylene, especially the "ethylene-forming enzyme" of microbes, and presents the view on the future prospects of microbial ethylene production. It refers to the former as methionine-dependent ethylene-forming microbes and the latter as α-ketoglutarate-dependent ethylene-forming microbes. Subsequently, Primrose and Primrose and Dilworth showed that many soil bacteria had an ethylene-producing ability and demonstrated Escherichia coli as a producer of ethylene using methionine as a substrate. The specific substrate and cofactor of the purified enzyme were a-ketoglutarate and L-arginine, respectively. The effects of a number of inhibitors and agents on the ethylene-forming activity were examined. The ethylene-forming enzyme of P. digitatum has similar properties to those of an α=ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase with respect to the requirement for a-ketoglutarate, Fe(II), oxygen, and a reducing agent such as dithiothreitol (DTT) and/or ascorbate.
