Microbial respiration of chloroxyanions as a source of oxygen for bioprocessing

A method of aerobic microbial processing comprising:

• culturing microbes comprising a (per)chlorate respiration pathway in a bioreactor in a bioprocess employing microbial respiration of chloroxyanions as a source of oxygen for the bioprocess, in the absence of external addition of molecular oxygen,
• wherein the microbes are genetically engineered to comprise an operative microbial (per)chlorate respiration pathway encoding:
• (i) a perchlorate reductase which effects reduction of (per)chlorate to chlorite (ClO2−);
• (ii) a chlorite dismutase which effects dismutation of the chlorite into chloride and molecular oxygen (O2);
• and
• (iii) a cytochrome oxidase which effects reduction of the molecular oxygen;
• wherein the pathway enables the engineered microbe to grow in the bioreactor with (per)chlorate as its sole electron acceptor in the absence of oxygen,
• wherein the microbes are obligately aerobic methanotrophs, that are Methylocystis trichosporium, and
• the bioprocess converts methane (CH4) into polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB).