SusChEM: Collaborative Research: Efficient biological activation and conversion of short-chain hydrocarbons

SusChEM：合作研究：短链碳氢化合物的高效生物活化和转化

• 批准号: 1938893
• 负责人: Clifford Henderson
• 金额: $ 15.79万
• 依托单位: University of South Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1938893&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SusChEM; Collaborative; Research; Efficient; biological; SusChEM; Collaborative; Research; Efficient; biological

Advances in the recovery of oil and gas reserves, through the use of fracking and horizontal well drilling, for example, have dramatically increased the amount of natural gas that can be economically harvested in the US. These reserves also contain compounds, know as natural gas liquids (NGLs), that are expensive to convert to useful products using current refinery technology. Fortunately, many microorganisms are capable of consuming NGLs for biomass and energy production using pathways that are much more efficient and less expensive. The biological mechanisms of these conversions will be studied in order to design organisms that exhibit even greater yield of product. By eliminating the generation of waste products and enhancing the effectiveness of these microbes, the resulting technology will be more widely deployed at fracking sites, increasing the energy security of the US while decreasing the negative environmental impact of natural gas extraction. This project will also provide STEM research opportunities to traditionally underrepresented groups, including to high school students through outreach to high schools in Houston, through the Science Academy of South Texas, and through the McNair program at Penn State.By cloning and repurposing poorly understood alkane-metabolizing enzymes, this project aims to develop metabolically engineered microorganisms capable of converting short-chain alkanes to target products such as butanol. Harnessing alkylsuccinate synthases for such biocatalytic applications requires functionally expressing their partner "activase" enzymes, that require iron-sulfur cluster incorporation, in a microbial host amenable to metabolic engineering. Screens for functional expression of known or putative enzyme pairs and for activation by non-cognate activases will be executed. Enzyme directed evolution strategies to achieve alkylsuccinate synthase activation will also be employed. Functional, heterologous partners will be thoroughly characterized, providing new insights into activase-alkylsuccinate synthase interaction, and new opportunities for biotechnological applications of these and related enzymes. The overall research plan combines protein and metabolic engineering to establish a novel engineering platform for biocatalytic processes with enhanced carbon and energy efficiencies. If successful, this project could transform the commercial processing of NGL away from large, capital- and energy-intensive refinery processing to smaller-scale processes with high mass and energy efficiency. This would in turn eliminate a major source of waste involved in natural gas processing.

例如，通过使用压裂和水平井钻探的石油和天然气储量恢复的进步大大增加了在美国经济收获的天然气量。这些储量还含有化合物，称为天然气液体（NGL），这些化合物使用当前的炼油厂技术转换为有用的产品很昂贵。幸运的是，许多微生物能够使用更高效且价格较低的途径消耗NGL来用于生物质和能源生产。将研究这些转化的生物学机制，以设计具有更大产物产量的生物体。通过消除废物的产生并增强这些微生物的有效性，将在压裂地点更广泛地部署了该技术，从而提高了美国的能源安全性，同时降低了天然天然气提取的负面影响。该项目还将通过向休斯顿的高中，通过南德克萨斯州科学院的高中以及宾夕法尼亚州立大学的麦克奈尔计划进行宣传，为传统上代表性不足的群体提供STEM研究机会，包括克隆和重新利用良好的烷烃 - 烷烃 - 代谢化酶，该项目旨在将其用于代理的Microhers Short-akain Asherkan旨在转化为代理的碱性，从而将其固定在上代谢中。丁醇。在这种生物催化应用中利用烷基习惯的合成酶需要在功能上表达其伴侣“活化酶”酶，该酶需要在适合代谢工程的微生物宿主中进行铁硫簇掺入。将执行已知或推定酶对的功能表达的筛选以及通过非认知活化酶激活的筛选。还将采用酶定向的进化策略，以实现烷基核酸合酶激活。功能性的，异源的伴侣将得到充分的特征，为激活酶 - 烷基二偶联合酶的相互作用提供新的见解，以及这些和相关酶的生物技术应用的新机会。总体研究计划结合了蛋白质和代谢工程，以建立一个新型的工程平台，以增强碳和能量效率的生物催化过程。如果成功，该项目可能会将NGL的商业处理从大型，资本和能源密集型炼油厂加工转变为具有较高质量和能源效率的较小规模的过程。反过来，这将消除参与天然气加工的主要废物来源。