An evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production
<p>Fossil fuels are finite and polluting, but underpin almost every system and product we use in the modern world. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion are the major driver of climate change, yet demand for these fuels continues to grow. Alleviating global relianc...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2022
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| _version_ | 1797108709763055616 |
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| author | Kennerley, J |
| author2 | Huang, W |
| author_facet | Huang, W Kennerley, J |
| author_sort | Kennerley, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>Fossil fuels are finite and polluting, but underpin almost every system and product we use in the modern world. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion are the major driver of climate change, yet demand for these fuels continues to grow. Alleviating global reliance on fossil carbon, especially in the transport sector, demands a drop-in compatible substitute with comparable energy density and fuel chemistry to diesel, jet fuel, or gasoline. If derived from atmospheric carbon, such a fuel could be central to future low-carbon circular economies. Liquid biofuels, produced via industrial microbial fermentation, have similar characteristics to their petroleum counterparts with a much smaller carbon footprint.</p>
<p>Microbial biosynthesis of advanced biofuels is currently uneconomical, but has been improved by rational engineering efforts. The physiological complexity inherent in living systems often limits such approaches, but can be sidestepped by harnessing natural evolutionary processes to optimise cellular metabolism for production of valuable molecules.</p>
<p>This work presents a novel biosensor-based directed evolution system for improving biosynthesis of alkanes – straight chain hydrocarbons useful as biofuel – in the bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1: the “artificial evolution”, or Artevo, system.</p>
<p>By placing a growth-essential gene under control of genetic regulators sensitive to alkanes, the Artevo system links alkane productivity of the host cell to fitness. High producing cells grow faster and outcompete their neighbours, resulting in generational enrichment of high-performing alkane biosynthesis genes within a growing population.</p>
<p>The Artevo system can interrogate a small pool of diverse alkane biosynthesis genes and distinguish between them based on relative productivity, conferring a growth advantage to host cells with the highest alkane yields. This system consolidates screening, selection, and amplification of useful biosynthetic genes from potentially large libraries into a single platform, and could form the basis for future continuous directed evolution strategies as it is built in a naturally transformable and recombinant microbe.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:32:29Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:c80ea731-c4b3-43d4-ac57-9c670700b412 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:32:29Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:c80ea731-c4b3-43d4-ac57-9c670700b4122023-01-23T09:02:23ZAn evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane productionThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:c80ea731-c4b3-43d4-ac57-9c670700b412Renewable energy sourcesSynthetic biologyMicrobial biotechnologyEngineeringEnglishHyrax Deposit2022Kennerley, JHuang, WThompson, I<p>Fossil fuels are finite and polluting, but underpin almost every system and product we use in the modern world. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion are the major driver of climate change, yet demand for these fuels continues to grow. Alleviating global reliance on fossil carbon, especially in the transport sector, demands a drop-in compatible substitute with comparable energy density and fuel chemistry to diesel, jet fuel, or gasoline. If derived from atmospheric carbon, such a fuel could be central to future low-carbon circular economies. Liquid biofuels, produced via industrial microbial fermentation, have similar characteristics to their petroleum counterparts with a much smaller carbon footprint.</p> <p>Microbial biosynthesis of advanced biofuels is currently uneconomical, but has been improved by rational engineering efforts. The physiological complexity inherent in living systems often limits such approaches, but can be sidestepped by harnessing natural evolutionary processes to optimise cellular metabolism for production of valuable molecules.</p> <p>This work presents a novel biosensor-based directed evolution system for improving biosynthesis of alkanes – straight chain hydrocarbons useful as biofuel – in the bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1: the “artificial evolution”, or Artevo, system.</p> <p>By placing a growth-essential gene under control of genetic regulators sensitive to alkanes, the Artevo system links alkane productivity of the host cell to fitness. High producing cells grow faster and outcompete their neighbours, resulting in generational enrichment of high-performing alkane biosynthesis genes within a growing population.</p> <p>The Artevo system can interrogate a small pool of diverse alkane biosynthesis genes and distinguish between them based on relative productivity, conferring a growth advantage to host cells with the highest alkane yields. This system consolidates screening, selection, and amplification of useful biosynthetic genes from potentially large libraries into a single platform, and could form the basis for future continuous directed evolution strategies as it is built in a naturally transformable and recombinant microbe.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Renewable energy sources Synthetic biology Microbial biotechnology Engineering Kennerley, J An evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production |
| title | An evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production |
| title_full | An evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production |
| title_fullStr | An evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production |
| title_full_unstemmed | An evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production |
| title_short | An evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production |
| title_sort | evolving synthetic biological platform for alkane production |
| topic | Renewable energy sources Synthetic biology Microbial biotechnology Engineering |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kennerleyj anevolvingsyntheticbiologicalplatformforalkaneproduction AT kennerleyj evolvingsyntheticbiologicalplatformforalkaneproduction |