Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for carbon capture and hydrogen storage.

Empowering a sustainable future through Synthetic Biology: Unleash engineered bacteria's potential for carbon dioxide capture and unlock a sustainable future through hydrogen storage chemical pathways. Rapidly increasing global carbon dioxide levels cause an imminent threat, demanding urgent action for a sustainable future and environmental resilience. This project is focused on engineering a new chassis strain of Escherichia coli that will grow on sources of captured carbon dioxide, including formic acid and methanol, as sole carbon sources. This new chassis will then be further engineered to produce commodity chemicals with an industrial value. Converting waste CO2 into specialist biochemicals using renewable H2 will be a major step towards a circular bioeconomy and achieving Net Zero targets.
The project will take three parallel approaches:
(1) Engineering of a hydrogen-dependent CO2 reductase where the CO2 and H2 will be converted to formate.
Objectives:
1. Optimise hydrogen-dependent CO2 reductase activity.
2. Enhance captured carbon (formic acid) utilisation in synthetic metabolic pathways.
(2) Characterisation of synthetic methylotrophy where the methanol will be converted to formate.
Objectives:
1. Demonstrate methanol-dependent formate production using engineered enzymes.
2. Integrate this pathway with the synthetic reductive glycine pathway.
(3) Design, build and test of a novel anaerobic, H2-dependent reductive glycine pathway to facilitate E. coli growth on H2 and CO2 alone, or alternatively methanol or formic acid.
Objectives:
1. Capturing carbon.
2. Utilisation of fixed carbon for bacterial growth.
3. Utilisation of fixed carbon for valuable speciality chemicals.
Seizing the opportunity, this project introduces pathways for CO2 capture and valuable chemical production, unlocking a sustainable future through engineered bacteria and cutting-edge hydrogen storage pathways.