U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science: Metabolic Engineering of Carbon Fixation and Utilization by Cyanobacteria

9910036斯蒂芬诺普洛斯该奖项支持麻省理工学院的格雷戈里·斯蒂芬诺普洛斯教授和日本东京理工学院的大口和久教授之间为期三年的合作研究项目。研究人员将对蓝藻固定和利用碳的代谢工程进行研究。蓝藻已经进化出固定二氧化碳并将其转化为各种代谢物的有效途径。这一特性可在生物封存二氧化碳的过程中加以利用，并与生产有用产品相结合。总体目标是检验这样一种假设，即提高固有碳利用率可以推动二氧化碳固定率的类似增长。该项目的目标是：1)建立提高PHA产量水平的蓝藻转化菌株；2)开展二氧化碳固定和PHA批量形成的基础动力学研究，以及野生型和转化蓝藻菌株的连续培养系统。该项目结合了两个具有互补专业知识和研究能力的实验室的努力。预计这项研究将有助于开发一个从基本上不含二氧化碳的原材料--大气二氧化碳--生产化学产品的平台。化学工业对生产特种化学品和商品化学品的农业手段非常感兴趣，这项研究可能对可用于实现这一目标的技术基础产生深远影响。该项目通过博士后和研究生的参与促进了国际人力资源的发展。通过思想和技术的交流，这个项目将扩大我们的基础知识基础，促进国际理解与合作。研究结果将发表在国际科学期刊上，并在美国和国外的科学会议上公布。

9910036StephanopoulosThis award supports a three-year collaborative research project between Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Professor Kazuhisa Ohtaguchi of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. The researchers will be undertaking a study of metabolic engineering of carbon fixation and utilization by cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria have evolved efficient pathways for the fixation of carbon dioxide and its conversion to various metabolites. This property can be exploited in processes for the biological CO2 sequestration in combination with the production of useful products. The general objective is to test the hypothesis that increasing the intrinsic carbon utilization rate can drive similar increases in CO2 fixation rates. The goals of the project are: 1) to establish transformed strains of cyanobacteria with increase PHA production levels and 2) to carry out basic kinetic studies of CO2 fixation and PHA formation in batch as well as continuous culture systems for wild type and transformed cyanobacteria strains.The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. It is anticipated that the research will contribute to the development of a platform for the production of chemical products from an essentially free raw material -- atmospheric carbon dioxide. The chemical industry has an acute interest in agricultural means for the production of specialty and commodity chemicals, and this research could impact in a profound way the technological base that could be used towards this goal. The project advances international human resources through the participation of postdoc and graduate students. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. Results of the research will be published in international scientific journals and also presented at scientific meetings in the U.S. and abroad.