U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science: Metabolic Engineering of Carbon Fixation and Utilization by Cyanobacteria

9910036 Stephanopoulos该奖项支持马萨诸塞州理工学院（MIT）的Gregory Stephanopoulos教授和日本东京工业大学的Kazuhisa Ohtaguchi教授之间为期三年的合作研究项目。 研究人员将进行蓝藻固碳和利用的代谢工程研究。 蓝细菌已经进化出固定二氧化碳并将其转化为各种代谢产物的有效途径。 这种性质可以在生物CO2封存的过程中与有用产品的生产相结合。总的目标是测试的假设，增加固有的碳利用率可以驱动类似的增加CO2固定率。 该项目的目标是：1）建立能够提高PHA产量的转化蓝藻菌株; 2）对野生型和转化蓝藻菌株进行分批和连续培养系统中的CO2固定和PHA形成的基础动力学研究。该项目汇集了两个具有互补专业知识和研究能力的实验室的努力。 预计这项研究将有助于开发一个平台，利用大气中的二氧化碳这一基本上不含碳的原料生产化学产品。 化学工业对生产特种化学品和商品化学品的农业手段有着浓厚的兴趣，这项研究可能会对实现这一目标的技术基础产生深远的影响。 该项目通过博士后和研究生的参与促进国际人力资源。通过交流思想和技术，该项目将扩大我们的基础知识，促进国际理解与合作。 研究结果将发表在国际科学期刊上，并在美国和国外的科学会议上发表。

9910036StephanopoulosThis award supports a three-year collaborative research project between Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Professor Kazuhisa Ohtaguchi of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. The researchers will be undertaking a study of metabolic engineering of carbon fixation and utilization by cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria have evolved efficient pathways for the fixation of carbon dioxide and its conversion to various metabolites. This property can be exploited in processes for the biological CO2 sequestration in combination with the production of useful products. The general objective is to test the hypothesis that increasing the intrinsic carbon utilization rate can drive similar increases in CO2 fixation rates. The goals of the project are: 1) to establish transformed strains of cyanobacteria with increase PHA production levels and 2) to carry out basic kinetic studies of CO2 fixation and PHA formation in batch as well as continuous culture systems for wild type and transformed cyanobacteria strains.The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. It is anticipated that the research will contribute to the development of a platform for the production of chemical products from an essentially free raw material -- atmospheric carbon dioxide. The chemical industry has an acute interest in agricultural means for the production of specialty and commodity chemicals, and this research could impact in a profound way the technological base that could be used towards this goal. The project advances international human resources through the participation of postdoc and graduate students. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. Results of the research will be published in international scientific journals and also presented at scientific meetings in the U.S. and abroad.