Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
31632 Metabolic Engineering 2011 11 Pages PDF
Abstract

Production of chemicals and fuels directly from CO2 is an attractive approach to solving the energy and environmental problems. 1-Butanol, a chemical feedstock and potential fuel, has been produced by fermentation of carbohydrates, both in native Clostridium species and various engineered hosts. To produce 1-butanol from CO2, we transferred a modified CoA-dependent 1-butanol production pathway into a cyanobacterium, Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942. We demonstrated the activity of each enzyme in the pathway by chromosomal integration and expression of the genes. In particular, Treponema denticola trans-enoyl-CoA reductase (Ter), which utilizes NADH as the reducing power, was used for the reduction of crotonyl-CoA to butyryl-CoA instead of Clostridium acetobutylicum butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase to by-pass the need of Clostridial ferredoxins. Addition of polyhistidine-tag increased the overall activity of Ter and resulted in higher 1-butanol production. Removal of oxygen is an important factor in the synthesis of 1-butanol in this organism. This result represents the first autotrophic 1-butanol production.

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Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Bioengineering
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