Ethanol production in microorganisms
AssigneeJoule Unlimited Technologies, Inc.
InventorsBrian D. Green, Nikos Basil Reppas, Dan Eric Robertson
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to methods and compositions for engineering photoautotrophic organisms to convert carbon dioxide and light into fatty acid esters and other molecules, including biofuels. The molecules are then secreted by the organism into a growth medium.
Claims16
A method for the biogenic production of ethanol, comprising:
- culturing an engineered cyanobacterium in a culture medium in the presence of light and CO2, wherein said cyanobacterium comprises a recombinant pyruvate decarboxylase gene and at least two copies of a recombinant alcohol dehydrogenase gene encoding an NADPH-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.2), wherein said NADPH-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:
- 2, wherein the expression of said recombinant alcohol dehydrogenase gene is increased relative to the expression of said recombinant pyruvate decarboxylase gene, and wherein the amount of ethanol released into said culture medium by said engineered cyanobacterium is equal to or greater than 10 mg/L/hr.
An engineered cyanobacterium, which comprises a recombinant pyruvate decarboxylase gene and at least two copies of a recombinant alcohol dehydrogenase gene encoding an NADPH-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.2), wherein said NADPH-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:
- 2, wherein the expression of said recombinant alcohol dehydrogenase gene is increased relative to the expression of said recombinant pyruvate decarboxylase gene, wherein the activity of said recombinant pyruvate decarboxylase gene and said recombinant alcohol dehydrogenase gene can be varied.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.