Sustainable Sunlight Driven Bioproduction of Multi Purpose Chemicals

The human population is growing, and with it its demand for resources. Resources are finite, and the burning of fossil fuels for energy is driving climate change. Furthermore, chemical production of commodities may utilise or release toxic intermediates, which can be detrimental to the surrounding environment. As such there is a need for sustainable production of commodities.
Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are photosynthetic micro organisms that could be used as a chassis for sustainable bioproduction of commodities. Compared to plants they grow faster, are easier to engineer, and have lesser land use requirements, reducing competition for agricultural land with food production.
Cyanobacteria can be cultivated using photobioreactors, however these are expensive, or open pond systems, but these are vulnerable to microbial contamination. Additionally, productivity of current engineered biofuel producing cyanobacteria is low, as are the values of produced biofuels. Together, these problems make bioproduction utilising cyanobacteria economically unfeasible, and to date commercialisation of biofuel or chemical producing cyanobacteria has not been achieved.
To address this issue, production of high-value chemicals of industrial interest will be targeted in this project. Independent enzymatic modules will be engineered that can be combined in synthetic pathways to produce these chemicals. Initially, enzymatic modules will be assayed in Escherichia coli, for rapid evaluation, and optimised using a design build test learn approach. The modules will then be transferred into cyanobacteria and incorporated into synthetic pathways which can then be optimised for product formation.