Aerobic Type II Methanotrophic Bacteria as a Biotechnological Platform for the Bioconversion of Methane to Succinic Acid

为了回应政治和公众要求减少温室气体排放的压力，石油衍生出了化学品 越来越多地被更可持续的产品所取代。例如，琥珀酸正在成为一种 极具竞争力的新一代生物基块在绿色化学中制造广泛的家居 产品包括粘合剂和可生物降解塑料。BioAmber Inc.使用可再生原料，如 非食用生物质和工业废弃物通过发酵生产生物基琥珀酸。成为最好的 天然气的主要成分(通常为90%v/v)，占垃圾填埋场产生的沼气的50%，甲烷 (CH4)被认为是下一代碳原料。抓住这样的机会，结合 在化学品生产中替代石油，有利于减少温室气体排放， 该公司的研发团队有兴趣探索将甲烷生物转化为琥珀酸。在这 该项目将测试以甲烷为唯一能源和碳源的好氧细菌的耐受能力 并在琥珀酸存在下生长。公共培养馆藏和新的精选细菌 将对增菌培养进行测试。耐琥珀酸、快速生长的菌株达到高细胞密度将 对下游代谢工程工作特别感兴趣，导致大规模工业 申请。该研究项目的概念验证，如果成功，将有助于开发新的绿色 化学应用减少我们的温室气体排放，从而有助于增强可持续性和 同样，向全球适用的清洁的基于甲烷的生物技术过渡。

In response to political and public pressure to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, petroleum derived chemicals are increasingly substituted by more sustainable products. For instance, succinic acid is emerging as a competitive new generation bio-based building blocks in green chemistry to make a broad range of home products including adhesives and biodegradable plastics. Bioamber Inc. uses renewable feedstock such as non-food biomass and industrial waste to produce bio-based succinic acid through fermentation. Being the main component of natural gas (typically 90% v/v) and constituting 50% biogas generated in landfill, methane (CH4) is considered as the next generation carbon feedstock. To avail on such opportunity and combine beneficial greenhouse gas emission abatement with substitution of petroleum in the production of chemicals, the R&D team of the company is interested to explore the bioconversion of CH4 into succinic acid. In this project, aerobic bacteria using CH4 as sole energy and carbon sources will be tested for their ability to tolerate and grow in the presence of succinic acid. Selected bacteria available in public culture collections and new enrichment cultures will be tested. Succinic acid tolerant, fast-growing isolates reaching high cell density will be of special interest for downstream metabolic engineering efforts, leading to large-scale industrial applications. The proof of concept of this research project, if successful, will contribute to develop new green chemistry applications reducing our greenhouse gas emissions thus contributing to enhanced sustainability and transitioning, as well, towards a clean CH4-based biotechnology applicable worldwide.