ROAD · Harnessing Rubisco oxygenation reaction for advancing sustainable biotechnology
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-05-01 → 2025-04-30
- EU contribution
- €228,552
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Harnessing Rubisco oxygenation reaction for advancing sustainable biotechnology
The project ROAD aimed at exploring a novel biomanufacturing concept for the conversion of CO2 into the platform chemical glycolate (precursor of different polymers) by exploiting the promiscuous oxygenase reaction of the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylate/oxygenase (Rubisco). This reaction, generally considered as a wasteful error by the enzyme, could in principle be used to catalyse the synthesis of a key monomer for the chemical industry. To achieve this overarching goal, ROAD included different complementary approaches, encompassing creation of auxotrophic metabolic sensors for determining the enzyme’s oxygenation reaction in vivo through growth-coupled selection strategies, the development of genome editing tools to domesticate a promising bacterium (the CO2-fixing bacterium Cupriavidus necator) for performing such bioconversions, and its engineering towards the conversion of CO2 into glycolate.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Establishing a bio-based economy requires the development of novel biorefineries, where bacterial cell factories are employed for producing added-value compounds from cheap, renewable substrates. CO2 is the ideal feedstock, being the most abundant and virtually unlimited carbon-source on Earth. Novel, highly promising biorefineries aim to utilize genetically engineered bacteria to convert renewable energies and atmospheric CO2 into fuels and chemicals. The enzyme Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is the main responsible of CO2 fixation in the biosphere via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. Despite its wide distribution in the tree of Life, Rubisco is a rather inaccurate enzyme, presenting a tendency to perform an oxygenation side-reaction which results in the formation of 2-phosphoglycolate (2PG). While re-assimilation of 2PG in central metabolism results in net CO2 loss, it can serve as a precursor of glycolate, an attractive, versatile platform chemical. Here, I propose to exploit the sloppiness of Rubisco to implement a novel biorefinery for glycolate production from CO2. Ultimately, I aim to demonstrate feasible microbial synthesis glycolate, where engineered bacterial platforms synthesize this molecule directly from CO2 (as carbon source) and renewable H2 or formate (as energy source). This overarching goal will be pursued through three different, complementary objectives, including: in vivo screening of new, recently described Rubisco isoforms via ad hoc designed 'selection strain'; in vivo directed evolution of the best performing Rubisco isoforms for improving the inherent oxygenation activity; engineering of natural (Cupriavidus necator) and synthetic (Escherichia coli) bacteria autotrophs as cell factories for this process, which will be tested in gas-controlled lab-scale reactors. Eventually, such a novel biorefinery concept will open unprecedented possibilities for the use of CO2 as feedstock for a true biobased economy.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET · Kongens LyngbyCoordinatorDenmark
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101065339
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5034f72a8&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e5034f72aa&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e51abac71d&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union