Engineering genetic regulation in Clostridium to improve industrial properties

Many commercially valuable chemicals are produced from unsustainable and environmentally damaging petrochemical sources. For these reasons, routes of chemical production that are carbon-neutral and are sourced from renewable starting materials are desirable. Clostridium are anaerobic bacteria with members innately able to produce a variety of commercially valuable chemicals from plant-based matter via the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation pathway. This process has been commercialised by Green Biologics Ltd. who have developed a highly productive industrial fermentation platform. However, a number of Clostridium's characteristics limit their fermentation potential under industrial conditions. The aim of this project is to use a novel strain engineering technique to generate strains of Clostridium with enhanced properties relevant to Green Biologics Ltd. industrial process.