CAREER: Integrating Chemical and Biological Catalysis for the Sustainable Production of Biofuels and Commodity Chemicals

职业：整合化学和生物催化实现生物燃料和大宗化学品的可持续生产

• 批准号: 1149678
• 负责人: Brian Pfleger
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1149678&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Integrating; Chemical; Biological; Catalysis

CBET 1149678 - PflegerThis NSF CAREER award by the Biotechnology, Biochemical and Biomass Engineering program supports a novel approach to converting lignocellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals that bypasses enzymatic saccharification used in glucose centric processes. The PI hypothesizes that potentially more economical biofuel and biorenewable chemical processes can be developed by converting lignocellulosic materials to levulinic acid instead of glucose, and then using a combination of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to develop microoganisms to efficiently convert levulinic acid into the desired hydrocarbon fuel or chemical. Since levulinic acid can be produced in high yields via the acid hyrolysis of lignocellulose biomass, this route to biofuels and biorenewable chemicals avoids the costly enzymatic degradation steps needed in traditional processes to convert biomass into fermentable sugars.The research team will use synthetic biology to metabolically engineer a bacterium to catabolize levulinic acid as the sole carbon source for growth and the synthesis of drop-in hydrocarbon fuels. The proposed work will elucidate a previously unknown biochemical pathway, examine methods of engineering catabolism, and evaluate an alternative biomass-to-chemicals process. The proposal builds upon past work to engineer Escherichia coli to overproduce fatty-acid based products and integrates established metabolic modeling, biochemistry, systems biology, and genetic engineering approaches.The development of sustainable chemical production processes will require the training of a new generation of chemical engineers possessing the ability to apply metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. To meet this challenge, the PI will redesign a laboratory course in biochemical engineering, will continue the development of the iGEM program (international Genetically Engineered Machines) as a model for interdisciplinary research and education at UWMadison. Through iGEM, undergraduate teams design, conduct, and communicate experimental research projects in the field of synthetic biology, and will partner with the NSF-sponsored Delta program to develop educational materials for introducing younger students to the concepts of sustainability, bioenergy, engineering, and synthetic biology.

CBET 1149678-生物技术，生物化学和生物量工程计划获得NSF职业奖，这支持了一种新的方法，用于将木质纤维素生物量转换为燃料和化学物质，以绕过绕过葡萄糖中心过程中使用的酶糖含量。 PI假设可以通过将木质纤维素材料转化为葡萄糖而不是葡萄糖，然后将合成生物学和代谢工程的组合通过将木质纤维素酸转化为有效的生物酸来开发，从而开发出可能更经济的生物燃料和可生物化的化学过程，从而开发了微生动物，从而有效地转化了含水素酸的水力或化学含量。 Since levulinic acid can be produced in high yields via the acid hyrolysis of lignocellulose biomass, this route to biofuels and biorenewable chemicals avoids the costly enzymatic degradation steps needed in traditional processes to convert biomass into fermentable sugars.The research team will use synthetic biology to metabolically engineer a bacterium to catabolize levulinic acid as the sole carbon source for生长和液化碳氢化合物燃料的合成。拟议的工作将阐明先前未知的生化途径，检查工程分解代谢的方法，并评估替代性生物质对化学物质过程。该提案以过去的工作为基础，以工程埃斯切里希亚大肠杆菌（Escherichia Coli）过量生产脂肪酸的产品，并整合既定的代谢建模，生物化学，系统生物学和基因工程方法。可持续化学生产过程的开发将需要培训新一代化学工程师，以培训具有具有代谢生物学和合法性生物学的能力。为了应对这一挑战，PI将重新设计生化工程学的实验室课程，将继续开发IGEM计划（国际基因工程机器），作为UWMADISON跨学科研究和教育的模型。通过IGEM，本科团队设计，进行和交流合成生物学领域的实验研究项目，并将与NSF赞助的DELTA计划合作，以开发教育材料，以向年轻学生介绍可持续性，生物营养，工程和合成生物学的概念。