Researchers Modify Heat-loving Microorganism for Bioalcohol Production
July 13, 2016http://science.energy.gov/ber/highlights/2016/ber-2016-06-j/
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Interest has increased around microorganisms that produce alcohols with superior characteristics. However, research studies on this have focused on organisms that operate at ambient temperatures. Now, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center have recently engineered a synthetic pathway into the heat-loving microbe Pyrococcus furiosus to produce ethanol as well as other alcohols.
The ability to produce bioalcohols at high temperatures has advantages due to lower risk of microbial contamination, higher diffusion rates, and lower costs. Researchers modified P. furiosus to produce various alcohols from their corresponding organic acids. So, in addition to converting acetate to ethanol, the synthetic pathway was shown to convert longer-chain acids to alcohols, such as propionate to propanol, isobutyrate to isobutanol, and phenylacetate to phenylalcohol.
This study shows the first significant alcohol formation in a single-celled organism. The work proves the potential of single-celled organisms to produce bioalcohols.
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