Exploring the Relationships between Gene Regulation and Microbial Ecology for the Sustainable Production of Microalgae-base Biofuels

探索基因调控与微生物生态之间的关系，以实现微藻基生物燃料的可持续生产

• 批准号: 0854322
• 负责人: Jordan Peccia
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-05-01 至 2013-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0854322&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; Relationships; between; Gene; Regulation

CBET-0854322JordanWidespread adoption of alternative liquid biofuels has the potential to mitigate CO2-caused climate change, boost local and national economies, and increase national security. Using microalgae-derived lipids as biofuel feed-stocks has documented advantages in production rate, land use, and CO2 sequestration over the more developed liquid biofuel alternatives, including ethanol and plant oils. The efficient application of this technology requires the incorporation of core bioprocess engineering concepts, including gene regulation and microbial ecology, into microalgae-based biofuel reactor design. The goal of this proposed research is to link gene regulation with microalgae function to design and produce robust mixed consortia microalgae reactors that maximize volumetric lipid content. Specific objectives include the following: (i) sequence genes involved in microalgae lipid production and build gene expression microarrays, (ii) determine the effects of CO2 concentration, pH, and other environmental conditions on the gene regulation and ability of microalgae to synthesize lipids, (iii) investigate process conditions that select for lipid producing microalgae stains in reactors using unsterile feed solutions, and (iv) integrate the experimental work with an evaluation of the environmental and economic impacts of producing biofuels from microalgae.Intellectual Merit: The potential sustainability of microalgae fuel production, coupled with the limited knowledge of how to design and operate efficient, robust CO2 uptake and lipid synthesis systems, provide a strong rationale for investigating microalgae genetics and microbial ecology. The major outcome of this research is fundamental and applied information that directs the design, stable operation, and sustainability of microalgae-based biofuel reactors. Beyond these tangible outcomes, the proposed work is designed to make fundamental contributions toward this developing industry. These include producing gene sequence information and bioinformatics tools to enable further gene expression or genetic engineering research, providing a basis to understand how algal populations evolve under realistic microalgae biofuel reactor conditions, and ensuring the sustainability of the process by incorporating economic issues into microalgae biofuel technology development.Broader Impacts: The project promotes teaching and training through involvement of graduate and undergraduate students in research. Students from a broad cross section of disciplines will become involved in a multi-year project to design, operate, and test a variety of research hypotheses on two continuously operated, unsterile microalgae reactors. In addition to providing long term information to inform the research section of this proposed work, the project will span six different courses and is expected to produce a campus-wide opportunity for student involvement in alternative biofuel development, regardless of the student's course of study.

CBET-0854322约旦广泛采用替代液体生物燃料有可能缓解二氧化碳引起的气候变化，促进地方和国家经济，并增加国家安全。使用微藻衍生的脂质作为生物燃料原料在生产率、土地利用和二氧化碳封存方面比更发达的液体生物燃料替代品（包括乙醇和植物油）具有优势。该技术的有效应用需要将核心生物过程工程概念，包括基因调控和微生物生态学，纳入基于微藻的生物燃料反应器设计。这项研究的目标是将基因调控与微藻功能联系起来，以设计和生产强大的混合财团微藻反应器，使体积脂质含量最大化。具体目标包括：（i）对参与微藻脂质生产的基因进行测序并构建基因表达微阵列，（ii）确定CO2浓度、pH和其它环境条件对微藻合成脂质的基因调节和能力的影响，（iii）研究在使用未灭菌进料溶液的反应器中选择脂质生产微藻菌株的工艺条件，以及（iv）将实验工作与从微藻生产生物燃料的环境和经济影响的评估相结合。微藻燃料生产的潜在可持续性，加上对如何设计和操作高效、稳健的CO2吸收和脂质合成系统的有限知识，为研究微藻遗传学和微生物生态学提供了强有力的理论基础。这项研究的主要成果是指导微藻生物燃料反应器的设计，稳定运行和可持续性的基础和应用信息。除了这些有形的成果，拟议的工作旨在为这个发展中的行业做出根本性的贡献。这些措施包括提供基因序列信息和生物信息学工具，以便能够进行进一步的基因表达或基因工程研究，为了解藻类种群在实际微藻生物燃料反应堆条件下如何演变提供基础，并通过将经济问题纳入微藻生物燃料技术开发，确保该过程的可持续性。该项目通过研究生和本科生参与研究促进教学和培训。来自广泛学科的学生将参与一个多年项目，设计，操作和测试两个连续操作，非无菌微藻反应器的各种研究假设。除了提供长期的信息，以告知这项拟议工作的研究部分，该项目将跨越六个不同的课程，并预计将产生一个校园范围内的机会，让学生参与替代生物燃料的发展，无论学生的学习课程。