Ligniflex: A synthetic biology platform to optimise the process and products of enzymatic lignin disruption

This project will develop new bioprocesses to convert lignin, one of the world’s largest natural by-products of lignocellulosic biomass and paper and pulp processing, to a sustainable source of high value chemical building blocks. It will also demonstrate feasibility to replace unsustainable petrochemical derived raw materials, currently used in the manufacture of chemicals, plastics and packaging. Proven, manipulable strains of industrial yeast will be engineered using methods of, combinatorial genetics, bioinformatics and synthetic biology to permit many hundreds of specific enzyme combinations to be tested for optimal lignin degradation. The project will demonstrate the potential for synthetic biology to construct and optimise industrial microbes suitable for economical, enzymatic degradation of lignin with characterisation of the resulting products as potential new raw materials for the chemical industries.