Premium
The state of autotrophic ethanol production in Cyanobacteria
Author(s) -
Dexter J.,
Armshaw P.,
Sheahan C.,
Pembroke J.T.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/jam.12821
Subject(s) - cyanobacteria , autotroph , ethanol fuel , production (economics) , ethanol , environmental science , chemistry , biology , ecology , food science , microbiology and biotechnology , environmental chemistry , bacteria , biochemistry , economics , genetics , macroeconomics
Summary Ethanol production directly from CO 2 , utilizing genetically engineered photosynthetic cyanobacteria as a biocatalyst, offers significant potential as a renewable and sustainable source of biofuel. Despite the current absence of a commercially successful production system, significant resources have been deployed to realize this goal. Utilizing the pyruvate decarboxylase from Zymomonas species, metabolically derived pyruvate can be converted to ethanol. This review of both peer‐reviewed and patent literature focuses on the genetic modifications utilized for metabolic engineering and the resultant effect on ethanol yield. Gene dosage, induced expression and cassette optimizat‐ion have been analyzed to optimize production, with production rates of 0·1–0·5 g L −1 day −1 being achieved. The current ‘toolbox’ of molecular manipulations and future directions focusing on applicability, addressing the primary challenges facing commercialization of cyanobacterial technologies are discussed.