Genetic construction of novel microbial strains for biomanufacturing purposes using methanol as the feedstock

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Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a process that uses a consortium of bacteria to break down organic matter into methane, in the absence of oxygen. The gas produced by AD is known as biogas and the feedstock for AD typically comes from municipal or agricultural waste. AD is a well-established and robust process. However, one of the major shortcomings of AD is that it only makes a single product - biogas - which is typically used as alternate source of low-cost power and electricity. To bolster the economic case for new AD plant construction, and the economic success of existing installations, it would be highly desirable to be able to produce more varied and higher-value products from AD. CH Four Biogas (CHFB) is an Ottawa-based company, with field offices in North Vancouver and Rensselaer, New York. CHFB is an industry leader in the field of AD, with more than one dozen biogas plants located in Canada and the US, which were designed and implemented by CHFB, operating successfully today. The company specializes in several areas relevant to the furtherance of biogas technology including innovative design, well-performing systems, progressive products, and research, particularly using agricultural and municipal wastes for the production of biogas. As a Canadian leading company in the biogas industry, CHFB is now striving to broaden its product range by identifying novel bioproducts that can be derived from biogas. In this proposal, the UWaterloo group will team with CHFB to explore genetic construction of novel microbial strains for heterologous production of butanone, a valuable chemical used in paint, coating, resin, and printing. Success of the exploration can lead to the next phase of major collaboration in developing large-scale biogas conversion processes.