AI Article Synopsis
- Rising petroleum costs and environmental concerns are driving the search for sustainable fuel alternatives from lignocellulosic biomass through microbial methods.
- Researchers have identified bisabolane as a promising alternative to D2 diesel and successfully engineered microbes like Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce large amounts of its precursor, bisabolene.
- The study demonstrates a method for rapidly developing new terpene-based biofuels by enhancing microbial platforms to create biofuels efficiently.
Article Abstract
Rising petroleum costs, trade imbalances and environmental concerns have stimulated efforts to advance the microbial production of fuels from lignocellulosic biomass. Here we identify a novel biosynthetic alternative to D2 diesel fuel, bisabolane, and engineer microbial platforms for the production of its immediate precursor, bisabolene. First, we identify bisabolane as an alternative to D2 diesel by measuring the fuel properties of chemically hydrogenated commercial bisabolene. Then, via a combination of enzyme screening and metabolic engineering, we obtain a more than tenfold increase in bisabolene titers in Escherichia coli to >900 mg l(-1). We produce bisabolene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (>900 mg l(-1)), a widely used platform for the production of ethanol. Finally, we chemically hydrogenate biosynthetic bisabolene into bisabolane. This work presents a framework for the identification of novel terpene-based advanced biofuels and the rapid engineering of microbial farnesyl diphosphate-overproducing platforms for the production of biofuels.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195254 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1494 | DOI Listing |
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