Collaborative Research: Designing a Minimized Genome Cyanobacterial Chassis for Efficient Bioproduction

该项目的目标是获得一个光合生物生产平台，通过迭代去除蓝细菌中的选定基因，可以有效地将阳光和CO2转化为感兴趣的生物产品。 蓝细菌是产氧光合原核生物，它们独特地有望成为利用阳光和大气CO2以及自由和无处不在的底物进行可持续生物生产的最佳平台。选择去除的基因将在计算方法和基因编辑技术的帮助下进行鉴定。基因去除是在不影响生物体生长速度的情况下完成的。该项目通过不同的合作项目培训几名国内和国际本科生，涉及分子工具的设计和实施、相关计算技术和光合生物的生理学。此外，该项目旨在与各种科学创业企业保持一致。该项目开发了Synechococcus 2973，一种展示有史以来最快的光合自养生长的蓝细菌，通过在多步骤过程中精简其基因组，将其转化为理想的底盘菌株，该过程涉及最先进的基因组编辑技术，由实验分析和代谢建模指导。通过插入式报告途径的生长速率和生产率来评估减少的功效。在保持快速生长的同时最小化基因组，减轻了菌株的代谢负担，消除了挑战可预测工程的神秘调控过程，并提高了对这种强大的自养主力的理解和控制。创造一种新型的流线型模式蓝藻是实现工业“绿色E.该奖项由分子和细胞生物科学部的系统和合成生物学集群以及化学，生物工程，环境和运输系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The goal of this project is to obtain a photosynthetic bioproduction platform that can efficiently convert sunlight and CO2 into bioproducts of interest, through iterative removal of selected genes from a cyanobacterium. Cyanobacteria are oxygenic photosynthetic prokaryotes that are uniquely poised to become optimal platforms for sustainable bioproduction using sunlight and atmospheric CO2 as well as free and ubiquitous substrates. The genes selected for removal would be identified with the aid of computational methods and gene editing techniques. Gene removal is accomplished without compromising the growth rate of the organism. This project trains several national and international undergraduate students under different collaborative programs, in the design and implementation of molecular tools, relevant computational techniques and physiology of photosynthetic organisms. In addition, the project is designed to align with a variety of scientific entrepreneurial ventures. This project develops Synechococcus 2973, a cyanobacterium displaying the fastest photoautotrophic growth ever observed, into an ideal chassis strain by streamlining its genome in a multi-step process that involves state-of-the-art genome-editing technology, guided by experimental analysis and metabolic modeling. Efficacy of reduction is assessed by both growth rate and productivity of a plug-in reporter pathway. Minimizing the genome while retaining fast growth eases the metabolic burden on the strain, removes cryptic regulatory processes that challenge predictable engineering, and improves understanding and control over this powerful autotrophic workhorse. The creation of a novel streamlined model cyanobacterium is a significant step in achieving an industrial “green E. coli” and establishing the foundation for a sustainable bioeconomy.This award is co-funded by the Systems and Synthetic Biology Cluster in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and the Cellular and Biochemical Engineering Program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.