Cyanobacterium offers a promising chassis for phototrophic production of renewable chemicals. Although engineered cyanobacteria can achieve similar product carbon yields as heterotrophic microbial hosts, their product...Cyanobacterium offers a promising chassis for phototrophic production of renewable chemicals. Although engineered cyanobacteria can achieve similar product carbon yields as heterotrophic microbial hosts, their production rate and titer under photoautotrophic conditions are 10 to 100 folds lower than those in fast growing E. colt. Cyanobacterial factories face three indomitable bottlenecks. First, photosynthesis has limited ATP and NADPH generation rates. Second, CO2 fixation by ribulose-l,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase （RuBisCO） has poor efficiency. Third, CO2 mass transfer and light supply are deficient within large photobioreac- tors. On the other hand, cyanobacteria may employ organic substrates to promote phototrophic cell growth, Nz fixation, and metabolite synthesis. The photo-fermenta- tions show enhanced photosynthesis, while CO2 loss from organic substrate degradation can be reused by the Calvin cycle. In addition, the plasticity of cyanobacterial path- ways （e.g., oxidative pentose phosphate pathway and the TCA cycle） has been recently revealed to facilitate the catabolism. The use of cyanobacteria as ＂green E. colt＂ could be a promising route to develop robust photobiorefineries.展开更多
文摘Cyanobacterium offers a promising chassis for phototrophic production of renewable chemicals. Although engineered cyanobacteria can achieve similar product carbon yields as heterotrophic microbial hosts, their production rate and titer under photoautotrophic conditions are 10 to 100 folds lower than those in fast growing E. colt. Cyanobacterial factories face three indomitable bottlenecks. First, photosynthesis has limited ATP and NADPH generation rates. Second, CO2 fixation by ribulose-l,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase （RuBisCO） has poor efficiency. Third, CO2 mass transfer and light supply are deficient within large photobioreac- tors. On the other hand, cyanobacteria may employ organic substrates to promote phototrophic cell growth, Nz fixation, and metabolite synthesis. The photo-fermenta- tions show enhanced photosynthesis, while CO2 loss from organic substrate degradation can be reused by the Calvin cycle. In addition, the plasticity of cyanobacterial path- ways （e.g., oxidative pentose phosphate pathway and the TCA cycle） has been recently revealed to facilitate the catabolism. The use of cyanobacteria as ＂green E. colt＂ could be a promising route to develop robust photobiorefineries.
