(574a) Development of a Novel Bioprocess for CO2 Conversion to Biochemicals Using Synthetic Designed Proteins and Non-Growing Cells
AIChE Annual Meeting
2020
2020 Virtual AIChE Annual Meeting
Topical Conference: Next-Gen Manufacturing
Breakthroughs in C1 to Chemicals and Processing Engineering
Thursday, November 19, 2020 - 8:00am to 8:15am
We have developed a novel designed light harvesting complex that can split water and regenerate the ubiquitous biological cofactor NADH. At the same time, we have developed a synthetic metabolic pathway that utilizes NADH to reduce CO2 to formaldehyde and then the formaldehyde is ligated to create glycerol using another designed enzyme (formolase). Once installed in E. coli, the pathways will allow for light-powered NAD(H) regeneration which will power CO2 reduction to glycerol that is independent of the cellular metabolism. Thus the system will be operated in photobioreactors which will specifically energize the designed photosynthetic pathway in cells that are not growing.
The most recent results of this promising new platform will be presented, including performance metrics for the newly designed photoprotein, pathway fluxes through the carbon fixation pathway, and protein engineering results on key enzymes in the carbon fixation pathway.