(485m) Molecular Biorefining to Liquid Alkanes and Alcohols

The future of alternative transportation fuels will at least partly depend on efficient production using microorganisms. Obtaining such a fuel that has optimal chemical properties, fits into the fuels infrastructure and can be obtained from sensible production routes is essential for the future of microbially produced biofuels. The goal of this work is therefore to produce specific fatty acids in Escherichia coli, tailored for subsequent chemical processing into alkane and alcohol fuels. Over-expressions of the accABCD complex as well as deletion of byproduct producing genes increased the malonyl-CoA pool. Further, deletion of the fadD gene hindered the transport of extracellular fatty acid into the cell. Plant desaturases were employed to obtain desired unsaturations and were coupled with the deletion of native unsaturated fatty acid producing genes to select for improved desaturase activity. The resulting strain will be used to produce various tailored fatty acids which will subsequently be transformed into alkane fuel molecules.