Economical production of biobutanol through genetic engineering of Clostridium acetobutylicum for effective dissimilation of cheap feedstock

与化石燃料相关的资源枯竭和环境影响需要寻找可持续的生物燃料。到目前为止，乙醇似乎是唯一和最受欢迎的生物燃料与合理的应用，但它仍然不能在经济上与化石燃料竞争，没有政府的补充。对于目前正在积极探索的大多数生物燃料（包括乙醇、氢气、丁醇、生物柴油、沼气等），有两个主要问题需要解决。第一个是降低原料成本，这通常是生物燃料生产的主要部分，而第二个是开发基于清洁生产技术的有效转化平台。不幸的是，这两个问题往往相互交织和矛盾。因此，开发实用生物燃料产品和技术的真正解决方案需要同时解决这两个问题的更系统的方法。拟议的研究目标是开发新型微生物菌株和生物加工策略，以基于廉价原料（即甘油和纤维素）的转化来生产清洁，可再生和可持续的生物燃料（即正丁醇）。因此，它将大大提高加拿大的燃油经济性，空气质量和生物制造能力，从而提高生活质量。我们会发挥关键作用，确保拟议项目成功进行，把各种生物技术（包括微生物生物技术、分子生物学、生化及生物过程工程）紧密结合，发挥协同作用。该项目提供了一个独特的多学科培训计划，将基础科学和应用工业技术联系起来，参与该项目的学员将成为发展加拿大生物制造业所需的高素质人才。

The resource depletion and environmental impacts associated with fossil fuels necessitate the search for sustainable biofuels. Up to now, ethanol appears to be the only and most popular biofuel with justified applications though it still cannot economically compete with fossil fuels without government supplements. For most biofuels currently under active exploration (including ethanol, hydrogen, butanol, biodiesel, biogas, etc.), there are two major issues to be addressed. The first is reducing feedstock cost which often represents the major part of biofuel production, whereas the second is developing an effective conversion platform based on clean production technologies. Unfortunately, these two issues are often mutually intertwined and contradictory. Hence, a true solution to the development of practical biofuel products and technologies requires a more systematic approach which simultaneously addresses these two issues. The proposed research targets the development of novel microbial strains and bioprocessing strategies to produce clean, renewable, and sustainable biofuel (i.e. n-butanol) based on the conversion of cheap feedstock (i.e. glycerol and cellulose). Hence, it will significantly enhance Canada's fuel economy, air quality, and biomanufacturing capacity, leading to the improvement of the quality of life. We will play a pivotal role to ensure the success of the proposed project through seamless and synergistic integration of various biotechniques, including microbial biotechnology, molecular biology, biochemical and bioprocess engineering. The project provides a unique multidisciplinary training program connecting fundamental science and applied industrial technology and trainees involved in this project will be among the highly qualified people that are needed to develop Canada's biomanufacturing industry.