SGER: Genetic Engineering of Archaeoglobus Fulgidus

9321893哈泽尔所有已知的产甲烷菌的碳源要求仅限于简单的C1和C2化合物，如二氧化碳、甲醇、甲酸盐和醋酸盐，尽管较高分子量碳源的产甲烷作用对生长来说是足够的。目前用于生产甲烷的厌氧消化工艺包括三个基本步骤：增溶、酸化和产甲烷。这些过程由不同的微生物组成，具有不同的最适pH。该项目的目标是设计一种能够从复杂底物中产生甲烷的微生物。这将提高沼气生产的厌氧消化过程的速度和效率。这种生物是一种极端嗜热(83摄氏度)的硫酸盐还原古生菌，依赖于广泛的碳源，包括蛋白胨、淀粉和明胶。黄曲霉被称为产甲烷菌和硫酸盐代谢物之间的“进化缺失的一环”，因为它利用了除参与产甲烷的最终酶以外的所有酶。在这个探索性项目中，突变/选择策略和基因转移技术都被用来从黄曲霉中创造出一种广泛底物范围的产甲烷菌。在基因工程方面的成功应该会大大提高甲烷的生产速度和效率，甲烷是一种理想的能源。***

9321893 Hartzell The carbon source requirements of all known methanogens are limited to simple C1 and C2 compounds such as CO2, methanol, formate, and acetate despite the fact that methanogenesis from higher molecular weight carbon sources would be sufficiently exergonic for growth. Current anaerobic digestion processes for methane production involve three basic steps: solubilization, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis. These processes are carried out by different microbial consortia with different pH optima. The goal of this project is to engineer a microbe capable of methanogenesis from complex substrates. This will improve the rate and efficiency of anaerobic digestion processes for methane production. The organism, Archaeoglobus fulgidus, is an extremely thermophilic (83 degrees C) sulfate-reducing Archaeon that grows on a broad range of carbon sources including peptone, starch, and gelatin. A. fulgidus has been referred to as "the evolutionary missing link" between the methanogens and the sulfate metabolizers as it utilizes all but the final enzymes involved in methanogenesis. In this exploratory project, both mutation/selection strategies and gene transfer techniques are being used to create a broad-substrate-range methanogen from A. fulgidus. %%% Success in genetically engineering Archaeolglobus should lead to a major improvement in the rate and efficiency of production of methane, a desirable energy source. ***