CAREER: Integrating Chemical and Biological Catalysis for the Sustainable Production of Biofuels and Commodity Chemicals

CBET 1149678-PfLeger这个由生物技术、生化和生物质工程计划颁发的美国国家科学基金会职业奖项支持一种将木质纤维生物质转化为燃料和化学品的新方法，这种方法绕过了以葡萄糖为中心的过程中使用的酶糖化作用。PI假设，可以通过将木质纤维材料转化为乙酰丙酸而不是葡萄糖，然后结合合成生物学和代谢工程来开发微生物，从而有效地将乙酰丙酸转化为所需的碳氢燃料或化学品，从而开发出潜在更经济的生物燃料和生物可再生化学过程。由于木质纤维素生物质可以通过酸水解高产量地产生乙酰丙酸，这种获得生物燃料和生物可再生化学品的方法避免了传统工艺中将生物质转化为可发酵糖所需的昂贵的酶降解步骤。研究小组将使用合成生物学对细菌进行代谢工程，以分解乙酰丙酸作为生长和合成临时碳氢燃料的唯一碳源。这项拟议的工作将阐明一种以前未知的生化途径，检查工程分解代谢的方法，并评估替代生物质转化为化学品的过程。该建议建立在过去对大肠杆菌进行工程改造以大量生产基于脂肪酸的产品的工作的基础上，并整合了已建立的代谢建模、生物化学、系统生物学和基因工程方法。可持续化学生产过程的发展将需要培训具有应用代谢工程和合成生物学能力的新一代化学工程师。为了迎接这一挑战，国际工程学院将重新设计一门生化工程实验室课程，并将继续发展iGEM计划(国际基因工程机器)，作为威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校跨学科研究和教育的典范。通过iGEM，本科生团队设计、实施和交流合成生物学领域的实验研究项目，并将与NSF赞助的Delta计划合作开发教育材料，向年轻学生介绍可持续发展、生物能源、工程和合成生物学的概念。

CBET 1149678 - PflegerThis NSF CAREER award by the Biotechnology, Biochemical and Biomass Engineering program supports a novel approach to converting lignocellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals that bypasses enzymatic saccharification used in glucose centric processes. The PI hypothesizes that potentially more economical biofuel and biorenewable chemical processes can be developed by converting lignocellulosic materials to levulinic acid instead of glucose, and then using a combination of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to develop microoganisms to efficiently convert levulinic acid into the desired hydrocarbon fuel or chemical. Since levulinic acid can be produced in high yields via the acid hyrolysis of lignocellulose biomass, this route to biofuels and biorenewable chemicals avoids the costly enzymatic degradation steps needed in traditional processes to convert biomass into fermentable sugars.The research team will use synthetic biology to metabolically engineer a bacterium to catabolize levulinic acid as the sole carbon source for growth and the synthesis of drop-in hydrocarbon fuels. The proposed work will elucidate a previously unknown biochemical pathway, examine methods of engineering catabolism, and evaluate an alternative biomass-to-chemicals process. The proposal builds upon past work to engineer Escherichia coli to overproduce fatty-acid based products and integrates established metabolic modeling, biochemistry, systems biology, and genetic engineering approaches.The development of sustainable chemical production processes will require the training of a new generation of chemical engineers possessing the ability to apply metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. To meet this challenge, the PI will redesign a laboratory course in biochemical engineering, will continue the development of the iGEM program (international Genetically Engineered Machines) as a model for interdisciplinary research and education at UWMadison. Through iGEM, undergraduate teams design, conduct, and communicate experimental research projects in the field of synthetic biology, and will partner with the NSF-sponsored Delta program to develop educational materials for introducing younger students to the concepts of sustainability, bioenergy, engineering, and synthetic biology.