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Improving Biofuel Production with Metagenomics and Synthetic Biology
Author(s) -
Witt Evan,
Forsberg Kevin,
Ellison Tyler,
Dantas Gautam
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.710.4
Subject(s) - isobutanol , biofuel , biochemical engineering , synthetic biology , metagenomics , commodity chemicals , microbiology and biotechnology , bioproducts , chemistry , biorefinery , bioenergy , metabolic engineering , environmental science , pulp and paper industry , ethanol , biology , biochemistry , computational biology , engineering , gene , enzyme , catalysis
The Department of Energy has expressed considerable interest in the production of biofuels from lignocellulose. Lignocellulose represents the largest terrestrial carbon source on Earth, but cannot be broken down without a combination of acids, industrial chemicals and heat. Only after treatment with these harsh conditions can the sugars within lignocellulose be made available for conversion into fuels (i.e. ethanol or isobutanol) by engineered strains of Escherichia coli. Unfortunately, this treatment process also creates compounds that inhibit bacterial growth and limit the potential output of biofuels. We have shown that genes isolated from soil metagenomes can confer tolerance to the products of biofuel production, which include fuels like ethanol and isobutanol, and the toxic products from lignocellulose treatment (e.g. furfural, ferulic acid, and others). Increasing tolerance to these byproducts can theoretically increase the yield of biofuel producing strains of E. coli, which is our ultimate goal. We aim to demonstrate the viability of a workflow combining synthetic biology and metagenomics to address innumerable challenges in industry and bioremediation. This workflow is not only versatile and adaptable, but also scalable, and could have tremendous economic and environmental potential.