Photosynthesis driven conversion of carbon dioxide to fatty alcohols and hydrocarbons in cyanobacteria.

The production of high value biochemicals and high energy biofuels from sustainable resources through the use of microbial based, green conversion technologies could reduce the dependence on petrochemical resources. However, a sustainable source of carbon and a clean, cost effective method for its conversion to high quality biofuel products are obstacles that must be overcome. Here we describe the biosynthesis of fatty alcohols in a genetically engineered cyanobacterial system through heterologously expressing fatty acyl-CoA reductase and the effect of environmental stresses on the production of fatty alcohols in the mutant strains. Hydrocarbon production in three representative types of native cyanobacterial model strains and the mutant strain overexpressing acetyl-CoA carboxylase was evaluated. The results of this investigation demonstrate the potential for direct production of high value chemicals and high energy fuels in a single biological system that utilizes solar energy as the energy source and carbon dioxide as the carbon source.

[1]  C. Khosla,et al.  Quantitative analysis and engineering of fatty acid biosynthesis in E. coli. , 2010, Metabolic engineering.

[2]  J. Liao,et al.  Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for 1-butanol and 1-propanol production via the keto-acid pathways. , 2008, Metabolic engineering.

[3]  Jeffrey B. Cheng,et al.  Mammalian Wax Biosynthesis , 2004, Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[4]  M. Galbe,et al.  Pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials for efficient bioethanol production. , 2007, Advances in biochemical engineering/biotechnology.

[5]  A. Melis,et al.  Engineering a platform for photosynthetic isoprene production in cyanobacteria, using Synechocystis as the model organism. , 2010, Metabolic engineering.

[6]  J. Keasling,et al.  Microbial production of fatty-acid-derived fuels and chemicals from plant biomass , 2010, Nature.

[7]  James C Liao,et al.  Direct photosynthetic recycling of carbon dioxide to isobutyraldehyde , 2009, Nature Biotechnology.

[8]  Mariam B. Sticklen,et al.  Plant genetic engineering for biofuel production: towards affordable cellulosic ethanol , 2008, Nature Reviews Genetics.

[9]  Charlotte Schubert,et al.  Can biofuels finally take center stage? , 2006, Nature Biotechnology.

[10]  A. Schirmer,et al.  Microbial Biosynthesis of Alkanes , 2010, Science.

[11]  Y. Nakamura,et al.  Sequence analysis of the genome of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803. II. Sequence determination of the entire genome and assignment of potential protein-coding regions (supplement). , 1996, DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes.

[12]  Sandy Merino,et al.  Progress and challenges in enzyme development for biomass utilization. , 2007, Advances in biochemical engineering/biotechnology.

[13]  E. Papoutsakis,et al.  A comparative view of metabolite and substrate stress and tolerance in microbial bioprocessing: From biofuels and chemicals, to biocatalysis and bioremediation. , 2010, Metabolic engineering.

[14]  John R. Coleman,et al.  Ethanol Synthesis by Genetic Engineering in Cyanobacteria , 1999, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[15]  G. Stephanopoulos.  Challenges in Engineering Microbes for Biofuels Production , 2007, Science.

[16]  J. Dexter,et al.  Metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria for ethanol production , 2009 .

[17]  Richard A. Kerr,et al.  Global Warming Is Changing the World , 2007, Science.

[18]  G. Stephanopoulos,et al.  Selection and optimization of microbial hosts for biofuels production. , 2008, Metabolic engineering.

[19]  John G. K. Williams.  [85] Construction of specific mutations in photosystem II photosynthetic reaction center by genetic engineering methods in Synechocystis 6803 , 1988 .

[20]  P. L. Parker,et al.  Hydrocarbons of Blue-Green Algae: Geochemical Signfficance , 1969, Science.

[21]  J. Cronan,et al.  Overproduction of Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase Activity Increases the Rate of Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Escherichia coli * , 2000, The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

[22]  S. Herrera.  Bonkers about biofuels , 2006, Nature Biotechnology.

[23]  S. Allakhverdiev,et al.  Environmental stress inhibits the synthesis de novo of proteins involved in the photodamage-repair cycle of Photosystem II in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. , 2004, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[24]  Xuefeng Lu,et al.  Overproduction of free fatty acids in E. coli: implications for biodiesel production. , 2008, Metabolic engineering.

[25]  P. Prentki,et al.  Plasmid vectors for selecting IS1-promoted deletions in cloned DNA: sequence analysis of the omega interposon. , 1991, Gene.

[26]  A. Corma,et al.  Synthesis of transportation fuels from biomass: chemistry, catalysts, and engineering. , 2006, Chemical reviews.

[27]  M. Calvin,et al.  Biosynthesis of alkanes in Nostoc muscorum. , 1969, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[28]  M. Matsuoka,et al.  Photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide to ethylene by the recombinant cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942, which harbors a gene for the ethylene-forming enzyme of Pseudomonas syringae , 1997 .