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Metabolic Engineering of Cyanobacteria for Direct Conversion of CO2 to Hydrocarbon Biofuels

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Progress in Botany 73

Part of the book series: Progress in Botany ((BOTANY,volume 73))

Abstract

Cyanobacteria are oxygenic photosynthesizers like plant and algae and hence can capture CO2 via the Calvin cycle and convert it to a suite of organic compounds. They are Gram-negative bacteria and are well suited for synthetic biology and metabolic engineering approaches for the phototrophic production of various desirable biomolecules, including ethanol, butanol, biodiesel, and hydrocarbon biofuels. Phototrophic biosynthesis of high-density liquid biofuels in cyanobacteria would serve as a good complement to the microbial production of biodiesel and hydrocarbons in heterotrophic bacteria such as Escherichia coli. Two groups of hydrocarbon biofuels that are being considered in microbial production systems are alkanes and isoprenoids. Alkanes of defined chain lengths can be used as drop-in fuel similar to gasoline and jet fuel. Many cyanobacteria synthesize alkanes, albeit in minute quantities. Optimizing the expression of the alkane biosynthesis genes and enhancing the carbon flux through the fatty acid and alkane biosynthesis pathways should lead to the accumulation and/or secretion of notable amounts of alkanes. It also becomes important to understand how to control the chain lengths of the produced alkane molecules. Isoprenoids, e.g., the monoterpene pinene and the sesquiterpene farnesene, are considered precursors for future biodiesel or next-generation jet fuel. Cyanobacteria produce carotenoids and extending the carotenoid biosynthetic pathways by the introduction of constructs for appropriate terpene synthases should allow the biosynthesis of selected mono- and sesquiterpenes.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by U. S. Department of Energy Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231 with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Funding from the DOE-LDRD grant CyanoAlkanes is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Christer Jansson

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  1. Christer Jansson
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Correspondence to Christer Jansson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Botanik, TU Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstr. 3–5, 64287, Darmstadt, Germany

    Ulrich Lüttge

  2. Faculty of Biology Experimental Ecology and Ecosystem Biology, University of Bielefeld, 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany

    Wolfram Beyschlag

  3. FB Biologie Abt. Allgemeine Botanik, TU Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Str. Gebäude 13/2, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Burkhard Büdel

  4. Cardiff School of Biosciences, University of Cardiff, Cardiff, UK

    Dennis Francis

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Jansson, C. (2012). Metabolic Engineering of Cyanobacteria for Direct Conversion of CO2 to Hydrocarbon Biofuels. In: Lüttge, U., Beyschlag, W., Büdel, B., Francis, D. (eds) Progress in Botany 73. Progress in Botany, vol 73. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22746-2_3

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