Development of a whole cell biocatalyst designed to perform hydrogen-dependent carbon dioxide reduction under pressure.

The project will focus on developing and characterising a bacterial carbon capture system that utilises the enzyme complex formate hydrogenlyase (FHL) to generate formate from gaseous CO2 and H2 whilst cells grow in a pressurised reactor. The developed system will also need be capable of functioning in the presence of carbon monoxide.

The key aims of this project are:
To characterise the activity of the formate hydrogenlyase (FHL-2) enzyme complex from the bacterium Pectobacterium atrospeticum in Escherichia coli.
To test the hypothesis that FHL-2 is fully functional within E. coli and can operate as a hydrogen-dependent CO2 reductase (HDCR) to generate formate form gaseous hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
To design, assemble and characterise a synthetic Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase (CODH) enzyme complex in E. coli.
This section aims to test the hypothesis that the CODH from a Pantoea species of bacteria can be successfully expressed in E. coli and can generate carbon dioxide from carbon monoxide.
To assemble and characterise a novel hydrogen-dependent carbon dioxide reducing cell-based biocatalyst.
This section aims to test the hypothesis that the addition of an active CODH into a bacterial system expressing FHL-2 will produce a biocatalyst capable of hydrogen-dependent carbon dioxide reduction in the presence of carbon monoxide.