Bioresource Technology 337 (2021) 125418 Available online 16 June 2021 0960-8524/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Integrated analysis of Whole genome sequencing and life cycle assessment for polyhydroxyalkanoates production by Cupriavidus sp. ISTL7 Juhi Gupta a , Rashmi Rathour a , Neha Maheshwari b , Indu Shekhar Thakur a, b, * a School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067, India b Amity School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Amity University Haryana, Manesar, Gurugram 122413, India HIGHLIGHTS G R A P H I C A L ABSTRACT • Cupriavidus sp. ISTL7 reported 4.93 ± 0.4571 g L -1 PHA production. • PHA cluster including genes phaA, phaB and phaC were revealed through WGS. • LCA illustrated that PHA production with acetate + glucose was most sustainable. • The production process can be improved with respect to its energy expense. • Gene encoding acetoacetyl-CoA reduc- tase was cloned, expressed and purifed. A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Polyhydroxyalkanoates Acetate Life cycle assessment Acetoacetyl-CoA reductase Sustainability ABSTRACT The current study demonstrates the enhanced production capability of strain Cupriavidus sp. ISTL7 for poly- hydroxyalkanoates (PHA) using acetate and glucose (4.93 ± 0.4571 g L -1 ) which was characterised analytically by GC–MS, FTIR and NMR analysis. Whole genome sequencing of strain ISTL7 unveiled an array of PHA metabolism genes which included phaA, phaB and phaC. Life cycle assessment of the protocol established that the production was most sustainable with the carbon source acetate. + Glucose as compared to acetate/glucose alone. It also concluded that solvent extraction of PHA and energy consumption during the process requires optimization to sustain the production on ecological fronts. Addi- tionally, acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (phaB) gene was molecularly cloned, expressed and purifed (27 KDa, 2.63 mg/ml). Conclusively, Cupriavidus sp. ISTL7 is a potential strain for PHA production with a scope of improvement on energy fronts which would transform the production environmentally and economically appealing. 1. Introduction Cupriavidus is a taxon which belongs to the family Burkholderiaceae and is a rod-shaped gram-negative bacterium. This genus is cosmopol- itan in existence from industrial sites to anthropogenic settings (Ram- achandran et al., 2018). This genus can perform multiple biovalorization activities such as the production of biosurfactants, polyesters, poly- saccharides etc. which attracts further attention to explore this potential genus (Gupta et al., 2019) Microbes usually exist in the form of aggregates which are recog- nized as biological polymers. The biological polymers are categorized into polysaccharides (cellulose), polyamides (cyanophycin), inorganic * Corresponding author. E-mail address: isthakur@mail.jnu.ac.in (I. Shekhar Thakur). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Bioresource Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125418 Received 11 May 2021; Received in revised form 10 June 2021; Accepted 12 June 2021