SBIR Phase I: Advanced multi-locus genome engineering to enable consolidated bioprocessing for the low-cost conversion of lignocellulose to hydrocarbon fuels and products

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响是测试一种创新的新方法来产生有工业价值的微生物。如果成功，新方法将通过提高工程细菌将生物质成分转化为燃料的能力来证明。这项研究的好处将是帮助开发一种技术，可以以足够低的成本将国内生产的非食品生物质转化为燃料，从而成为美国能源解决方案的重要组成部分。美国将从这种低成本纤维素生物燃料的生产中获得多重利益。然而，要实现这一目标，就需要采取创新的新办法，切实降低转换成本。该项目寻求一种创新的新方法来工程化具有未知遗传基础的细菌表型，同时生产可用于生物质转化方法的菌株，称为联合生物处理（CBP）。该技术将扩大表型的复杂性，这些表型可以通过非定向/进化方法在工业微生物中开发，并利用自然能力，这是一些细菌吸收DNA的能力。该解决方案证明了一种称为多重自然转化连续进化（CE-MuNT）的技术的可行性，该技术用于选择具有复杂，未表征遗传基础的具有商业价值的表型。通过使用不需要人为干预的大规模和快速的基因转移，有可能快速创造出大量的遗传多样性突变体，然后可以针对目标特征进行选择。重要的是，这种方法不受关于生物体存在的重大知识差距的限制。该项目将启动旨在将生物质衍生乙醇催化转化为适用于航空和重型应用的碳氢化合物的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to test an innovative new approach to generating industrially valuable microorganisms. If successful, the new approach will be demonstrated by improving the ability of an engineered bacterium to convert components of biomass into fuel. The benefit of that research will be to help develop a technology that can convert domestically-produced, non-food biomass into fuel at a low enough cost that it can become a significant part of America’s energy solution. The United States would realize multiple benefits from the production of such low-cost cellulosic biofuels. However, realization of this objective requires innovative new approaches that meaningfully decrease the cost of conversion. This project seeks an innovative new approach to engineering bacterial phenotypes with an unknown genetic basis, while at the same time producing strains useful for a method of biomass conversion called Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP). The technology will expand the complexity of phenotypes that can be developed in industrial microbes by non-directed /evolutionary methods by taking advantage of natural competence, which is the ability of some bacteria to take up DNA. The solution demonstrates the feasibility of a technique called Continuous Evolution with Multiplex Natural Transformation (CE-MuNT), in a program of selection for commercially valuable phenotypes that have a complex, uncharacterized genetic basis. By using massive and rapid genetic transfers that do not require human intervention, it may be possible to rapidly create a large set of genetically diverse mutants that can then be selected for the targeted characteristics. Importantly, the approach is not limited by the significant knowledge gaps that exist about the organism. The project will initiate studies aimed at catalytically converting biomass-derived ethanol to hydrocarbons that are suited to aviation and heavy-duty applications.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.