Staff profile

Using Cyanobacteria and Microalgae to grow valuable chemicals for industry

Cyanobacteria have long been recognised as solar-powered cell factories suitable for production of precursors of valuable industrial chemicals. Ability to grow rapidly on recycled water without the need for prime agricultural land, fertilisers and freshwater makes cyanobacteria sustainable for industrial exploitation. Structural and physiological adaptations for running efficient photosynthesis underpin cyanobacteria superior conversion efficiency of solar energy-to-biomass. However, a key challenge hindering production of high levels of target products is the failure to significantly divert metabolic flux towards engineered pathway(s) while maintaining growth. This makes commercial exploitation unfeasible. My project explores use of a three-stage strategy to redirect metabolites towards an engineered pathway. Stage one is application of chemical stress to reconfigure cell metabolism, redistributing metabolic building blocks between normal metabolism and synthesis of stress-induced macromolecules. The photosynthetic machinery plays a central role in this stress-adaptive response. While application of stress would normally limit biomass growth and/or activate cell death, stage two entails addition of novel extracellular biofilm-associated signals to block cell death and boost growth. The molecular mechanism by which the signals work will be investigated. Stage three uses genetic manipulation to switch metabolic flux away from stress-induced macromolecules towards the engineered pathway and the valuable chemicals.