Synthetic biology approaches toward direct recycling of carbon dioxide to C4-C5 alcohols in thermophilic cyanobacteria

全球气候变化刺激了减少二氧化碳净排放的努力。解决这一问题的一个潜在方法是利用光合作用回收二氧化碳作为生产燃料或化学物质的主干。光合作用生物利用太阳能将大气中的二氧化碳转化为有机分子，但这些生物中没有一种能产生适合用作液体燃料的分子。该项目旨在对嗜热蓝藻进行基因改造，将二氧化碳转化为C4-C5醇，这种醇作为石油基燃料的替代品具有巨大的潜力。此外，从生产混合物中提取最终产品是一个简单的过程，因为燃料很容易蒸发。对于实现更清洁、更可持续的能源经济这一长期全球目标而言，这一新战略具有两大优势。首先，这个过程回收二氧化碳，与燃烧化石燃料相比，减少了温室气体的净排放。其次，它利用太阳能直接将二氧化碳转化为液体燃料，与现有的基础设施兼容，包括大多数汽车。PI还将把他的研究与多个层次的科学和工程教育相结合。拟开展的研究涉及分子遗传学、微生物学、合成生物学和代谢工程的原理和方法的交叉。参与这项研究的学生将获得一个综合的视角，了解生物化学、微生物学和生物工程之间的重要接口和协同作用。拟议的研究对社会的好处是深远的，因为由此产生的技术将显著影响我们解决能源可持续性和全球气候变化问题的能力。

Global climate change has stimulated efforts towards a reduction of net CO2 emissions. One potential approach to address this problem is to recycle CO2 as a backbone for producing fuels or chemicals using photosynthesis. Photosynthetic organisms use solar energy to incorporate atmospheric CO2 into organic molecules, but none of these organisms produce any molecules that are suitable for use as a liquid fuel. This project aims to genetically modify thermophilic cyanobacteria to build CO2 into C4-C5 alcohols, which have great potential as an alternative to petroleum based fuels. Additionally, extracting the final product from the production mix is a simple process as the fuel is easily vaporized. This new strategy possesses two advantages for the long-term, global-scale goal of achieving a cleaner and more sustainable energy economy. First, the process recycles CO2, reducing net greenhouse gas emissions compared to the burning of fossil fuels. Second, it uses solar energy to directly convert CO2 into a liquid fuel that is compatible with the existing infrastructure, including in most automobiles. The PI will also integrate his research with science and engineering education at multiple levels. The proposed research involves intersection of principles and methods of molecular genetics, microbiology, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering. Students participating in this research will gain an integrated perspective of the important interfaces and synergies connecting biochemistry, microbiology, and bioengineering. The benefits of the proposed research to society are far-reaching as the resulting technologies will significantly impact our ability to resolve energy sustainability and global climate change issues.