HALOPT 2.0: Affordable, Sustainable, Secure and Distributed Biomanufacture in Halomonas with Optogenetic Control
Abstract
The primary aim of the HALOPT 2.0 project is to produce the aviation fuel precursorlinalool at low cost and at scale. This is to be achieved using the production chassisHalomonas in seawater, under non-sterile conditions consuming waste organicfeedstocks (e.g. glycerol as test case). The approaches developed will also open upproduction at scale of other monoterpenes as fuel components using seawaterbiotechnology. This requires Halomonas to express the genes for a series of enzymesthat convert acetyl CoA from core metabolism through the mevalonate (MVA) pathwayto the linalool synthase producing the product. These genes need to be integrated intothe Halomonas chromosome to make them stable in the absence of antibiotic selectionpressure (as is required for a plasmid). These genes also need to be controlled by aconstitutive or optogenetic promoter so that there is no need for expensive chemicalinducers.A major focus of the proposed work is to address MVA pathway instability for scaledproduction of linalool and other monoterpenes. This will require additional strainengineering work (WP1). This will yield improvements in linalool production stabilitycompared with current use of the standard MVA pathway. A second strand of work(WP2) is closely linked to scale up requirements to recover linalool from solventoverlays. This work is closely aligned with the work at China Lake to optimise processdesigns and DSP. This should alleviate problems of linalool toxicity in scaled productionthrough rapid removal from the bioreactor and also enable rapid and efficient recoveryof product by distillation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 19, 2020
- Source ID
- N629092012082
Entities
People
- Nigel Scrutton
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy