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Title: The plasticity of cyanobacterial carbon metabolism

Journal Article · · Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
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  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
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This opinion article aims to raise awareness of a fundamental issue which governs sustainable production of biofuels and bio-chemicals from photosynthetic cyanobacteria. Discussed is the plasticity of carbon metabolism, by which the cyanobacterial cells flexibly distribute intracellular carbon fluxes towards target products and adapt to environmental/genetic alterations. This intrinsic feature in cyanobacterial metabolism is being understood through recent identification of new biochemical reactions and engineering on low-throughput pathways. We focus our discussion on new insights into the nature of metabolic plasticity in cyanobacteria and its impact on hydrocarbons (e.g. ethylene and isoprene) production. Here, we discuss approaches that need to be developed to rationally rewire photosynthetic carbon fluxes throughout primary metabolism. We also outline open questions about the regulatory mechanisms of the metabolic network that remain to be answered, which might shed light on photosynthetic carbon metabolism and help optimize design principles in order to improve the production of fuels and chemicals in cyanobacteria.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1399349
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1549234
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-2700-68379
Journal Information:
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, Vol. 41, Issue C; ISSN 1367-5931
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 37 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

New Applications of Synthetic Biology Tools for Cyanobacterial Metabolic Engineering journal February 2019
Membrane-Inlet Mass Spectrometry Enables a Quantitative Understanding of Inorganic Carbon Uptake Flux and Carbon Concentrating Mechanisms in Metabolically Engineered Cyanobacteria journal June 2019
Remodeling of the Photosynthetic Chain Promotes Direct CO 2 Conversion into Valuable Aromatic Compounds journal October 2018
Biotechnology of cyanobacterial isoprene production journal May 2018
Unlocking the photobiological conversion of CO 2 to ( R )-3-hydroxybutyrate in cyanobacteria journal January 2018
Terpenoid Metabolic Engineering in Photosynthetic Microorganisms journal October 2018
Recent advances in synthetic biology of cyanobacteria journal May 2018
Remodeling of the Photosynthetic Chain Promotes Direct CO 2 Conversion into Valuable Aromatic Compounds journal December 2018
Enhanced Production of D-Lactate in Cyanobacteria by Re-Routing Photosynthetic Cyclic and Pseudo-Cyclic Electron Flow journal January 2020

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