| Project Detail |
Bacteria the fight against pollution
Carbon dioxide (CO2) enters the atmosphere through burning of fossil fuels, trees and solid waste. CO2 emissions are a key cause of atmospheric pollution, and alongside other greenhouse gases, drive global climate change. Funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Null-ution project proposes to develop a bacterial system based on the Clostridium species. The idea is to use these bacteria to capture CO2 from the atmosphere, while simultaneously producing useful products or chemicals. Researchers plan to engineer specific pathways in these bacteria to produce bioplastic and butanol.
Towards a better future with less pollution, better life quality for humans, animals and plants and more sustainable high-value chemicals under a modular biological system. Microorganisms (Clostridium sp.) will be the driving force, and carbon dioxide (CO2) will be the fuel required to grow and produce the high-value chemicals. The modularity will allow the same organism to act as a multi-product factory, based on the benefit and requirements. We aim to select the Clostridium sp. based on their ability to capture CO2. Enzymes involved in CO2 metabolism will be subjected to improvement; either the same enzymes will be mutated or substituted by a better biocatalyst from the natural inventory. Once satisfactory CO2 utilization/organism growth levels are achieved, designed constructs targeting specific pathways will be transformed into the recombinant organism to validate their modularity. We have selected bioplastic and butanol as the target model products. Consequently, new genes will be assembled into a single plasmid and subsequently transformed into the microorganism. The product levels and efficiency of the new system will be evaluated. |
