EFRI-HyBi: Fungal Processes for Direct Bioconversion of Cellulose to Hydrocarbons

EFRI-HyBi：纤维素直接生物转化为碳氢化合物的真菌过程

• 批准号: 0937613
• 负责人: Brent Peyton
• 金额: $ 199.88万
• 依托单位: Montana State 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: 2009-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0937613&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EFRI; HyBi; Fungal; Processes; Direct

Abstract PI Name: Brent Peyton Institution: Montana State UniversityProposal Number: 0937613EFRI: EFRI-HyBi: Fungal Processes for Direct Bioconversion ofCellulose to HydrocarbonsThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)An interdisciplinary team from Bio/Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biochemistry, and Plant Science at Montana State University (MSU) and Yale University will focus on a recently emerging biotechnology for direct production of hydrocarbons (chemically equivalent to petroleum) from waste cellulose feedstock. Gliocladium roseum (NRRL 50072) is an endophytic fungus recently isolated from Northern Patagonia by Gary Strobel (MSU). G. roseum produces and excretes "mycodiesel", an extensive series of straight chained and branched medium chain-length hydrocarbons, including heptane, octane, undecane, dodecane and hexadecane. This organism has the potential to produce petroleum directly using a cellulose fermentation process that is essentially carbon neutral. Peyton (MSU) and G. Strobel will oversee the characterization and optimization of G. roseum to obtain quantitative bioprocessing parameters to maximize diesel-range hydrocarbon production. This will also provide a baseline for calibration of metabolic flux analysis models and comparison for efforts focused on improving hydrocarbon production rates and yields. Yale's Scott Strobel will focus on annotating the existing G. roseum genome to support the development of the metabolic flux analysis model which will in turn guide experiments to maximize hydrocarbon yields and production rates. Ross Carlson (MSU) will develop these numerical metabolic flux models to allow in silico predictions of effects of culturing conditions on cell yields and hydrocarbon production. Mitchell Smooke (Yale) will provide detailed evaluations of the fuel/burning characteristics of component hydrocarbons produced in the mycodiesel mixture. Intellectual Merit: The proposed research challenges the current prototype for fuel production from waste cellulose. In contrast to ethanol systems, by potentially eliminating separate saccharification processing, this proposed fungal technology can bypass one of the most costly and energy intensive steps of waste cellulose conversion. Further, while much national effort has focused on ethanol production, beyond characterization of cellulolytic fungal enzymes, very little research has examined the potential role of fungi in renewable fuel production. This interdisciplinary team will utilize state of the art molecular, bioengineering, metabolic modeling, and fuel analysis techniques to characterize and optimize G. roseum for direct cellulose to fuel conversion processes and to enhance fuel hydrocarbon yield. Overall, through direct conversion of cellulose to petroleum, the proposed research will significantly change the paradigm for production of renewable fuels and has the long term potential to yield a large variety of renewable chemicals. Broader Impacts: Only 15% of current fuel needs could be met if all U.S corn was converted to ethanol. Obviously, alternatives to corn are needed. In Montana alone, the estimated the annual supply of forest residues is 1,317,000 dry tons per year (USDA and USDOE, 2005) and it was estimated the U.S. could sustainably produce 368 million dry tons of forest biomass. Clearly, a novel technology that could directly convert waste biomass into fuel grade hydrocarbons would be a significant paradigm shift in current renewable fuel strategies. The PIs propose an integration of microbiology, molecular biology, metabolic modeling, and bio/chemical engineering that will educate, develop, and exchange students from both Montana State University and Yale University. The team will make presentations at the public science lecture series in Bozeman, participate in the "Scientist for a Day" program targeting rural community kids, contribute to the "Frontiers of Science" program designed to expose high school juniors and seniors to leading edge scientific research at Yale, and will present guest lectures on both campuses on Energy and Sustainability. Funding is also included in the proposal to integrate Native American undergraduate students into the project through MSU's American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO) and Montana's Tribal Colleges. MSU has a long-term history of supporting American Indian students in research positions, and this has been a successful program for improving Native American B.S. degrees at MSU. This project would open many new doors to an important and relatively unexplored alternative to meeting our renewable fuels needs.

摘要PI名称：Brent Peyton研究所：蒙大拿州立大学提案编号：0937613EFRI：EFRI-HYBI：将纤维素直接生物转化为碳氢化合物的真菌工艺该奖项由2009年美国回收和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助，蒙大拿州立大学(MSU)和耶鲁大学的一个来自生物/化学工程、机械工程、生物化学和植物科学的跨学科团队将专注于最近新兴的利用废弃纤维素原料直接生产碳氢化合物(化学上相当于石油)的生物技术。玫瑰粘棒菌(Gliocladium roseum，NRL 50072)是新近从巴塔哥尼亚北部分离到的一种内生真菌。玫瑰革兰氏菌产生和分泌“真菌柴油”，这是一系列广泛的直链和分支中链长度碳氢化合物，包括庚烷、辛烷、十一烷、十二烷和十六烷。这种微生物有可能直接使用基本上碳中性的纤维素发酵过程来生产石油。Peyton(MSU)和G.Strobel将监督G.roseum的特性和优化，以获得定量的生物处理参数，以最大限度地提高柴油范围内的碳氢化合物产量。这也将为代谢通量分析模型的校准和侧重于提高碳氢化合物产生率和产量的努力的比较提供基线。耶鲁大学的Scott Strobel将专注于注释现有的G.roseum基因组，以支持代谢流量分析模型的开发，该模型将反过来指导实验，以最大限度地提高碳氢化合物产量和生产率。罗斯·卡尔森(MSU)将开发这些数值代谢流量模型，以便在计算机上预测培养条件对细胞产量和碳氢化合物产量的影响。Mitchell Smooke(耶鲁大学)将对霉菌柴油混合物中产生的组份碳氢化合物的燃料/燃烧特性进行详细评估。智力价值：这项拟议的研究对目前利用废弃纤维素生产燃料的原型提出了挑战。与乙醇系统相比，通过潜在地取消单独的糖化处理，这项拟议的真菌技术可以绕过最昂贵和最耗能的废纤维素转化步骤之一。此外，虽然许多国家的努力都集中在乙醇生产上，但除了纤维素分解真菌酶的特性外，很少有人研究真菌在可再生燃料生产中的潜在作用。这个跨学科的团队将利用最先进的分子、生物工程、代谢建模和燃料分析技术来表征和优化玫瑰棉，以直接将纤维素转化为燃料的过程，并提高燃料烃的产量。总体而言，通过将纤维素直接转化为石油，拟议的研究将显著改变可再生燃料的生产模式，并具有生产多种可再生化学品的长期潜力。更广泛的影响：如果所有美国玉米都转化为乙醇，目前只有15%的燃料需求可以得到满足。显然，玉米的替代品是必要的。仅在蒙大拿州，森林残渣的年供应量估计为每年1,317,000干吨(美国农业部和美国农业部，2005年)，据估计，美国可以可持续地生产3.68亿干吨森林生物质。显然，一种可以将废物生物质直接转化为燃料级碳氢化合物的新技术将是当前可再生燃料战略的重大范式转变。PIS建议将微生物学、分子生物学、代谢建模和生物/化学工程整合在一起，教育、发展和交换蒙大拿州立大学和耶鲁大学的学生。该团队将在博兹曼的公共科学讲座系列上发表演讲，参与针对农村社区儿童的“科学家一天”计划，为旨在让高三和高年级学生接触耶鲁尖端科学研究的“科学前沿”计划做出贡献，并将在两个校区举办关于能源和可持续发展的客座讲座。资助也包括在通过密歇根州立大学的美国印第安人研究机会(AIRO)和蒙大拿州的部落学院将美国原住民本科生纳入该项目的提案中。密歇根州立大学在支持美国印第安人学生担任研究职位方面有很长的历史，这是一个成功的项目，可以提高密歇根州立大学的美洲原住民学士学位。该项目将为满足我们的可再生燃料需求打开许多新的大门，以实现一种重要的、相对未被探索的替代方案。