Verðmæti úr þangi með hitakærum bakteríum - verkefni lokið
Fréttatilkynning verkefnisstjóra
The goal of this Doctoral Student grant was to optimize thermophilic organisms to turn the main carbohydrates from macroalgae into valuable compounds like ethanol or other derivatives through genetic and metabolic engineering.
In the context of fossil fuel shortage and the
drawbacks of using other type of biomass (from first and second generation), macroalgae
represents an unconventional and challenging resource but could lead to new sustainable
biorefinery applications.
In this project, the thermophilic anaerobic bacteria Thermoanaerobacterium AK17 was
successfully engineered to produce ethanol as a sole fermentation product, close to the maximal theoretical yield. Concurrently the engineering of 1,2-propanediol as another fermentation product was partially achieved and is still on-going and would lead to higher success rate in another strain, Thermoanaerobacterium HG8, which is a natural producer of this commodity chemical. Out of the three main carbon sources in brown macroalgae (mannitol, laminarin, alginate), AK17 was proven to utilize the mannitol and it was found to degrade the laminarin and utilize the glucose sub-units. The alginate utilization pathway was partially accomplished, as a transporter was still needed even though the other genes had been inserted and were active. Subsequently, fermentation studies were successfully performed on seaweed hydrolysate, with ethanol actually produced from the macroalgal carbohydrates. Two manuscripts summarizing this project have been drafted and will be published as output. Extensive work was carried out and important results were delivered, which may contribute to future research on macroalgal biorefinery, in Iceland and elsewhere.
Heiti verkefnis: Verðmæti
úr þangi með hitakærum bakteríum / Genetic engineering of an anaerobic thermophile:
turning algae into valuable compounds
Verkefnisstjóri: Antoine Didier Christophe Moenaert, Matís
Tegund styrks: Doktorsnemastyrkur
Styrktímabil: 2018-2020
Fjárhæð styrks: 19,986 millj. kr. alls
Tilvísunarnúmer Rannís: 185126
