Development of advanced biocatalyst tools and resources to enable biogas-based biomanufacturing.

University Of North Texas, Denton TX

Investigators

Abstract

Biological conversion of methane-rich gas streams, including anaerobic digestion-derived biogas, by methanotrophic bacteria represents a promising route to valorize these abundant, squandered carbon sources while simultaneously mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This project will develop genetic engineering tools and metabolic models that will advance methanotroph-based biotechnologies aimed at the sequestration/utilization of greenhouse gases as feedstocks for the production of renewable fuels and chemicals. This project will also facilitate the training of underrepresented students at University of North Texas, a Hispanic-serving institution, to promote diversification of the scientific workforce. Further, this project will establish an International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team consisting of diverse high school, undergraduate, and graduate students that will engage with the broader community to promote synthetic biology and metabolic engineering via scientific outreach activities. The long-term goal of this research is to develop methanotroph-based CH4 and CO2 greenhouse gas mitigation and conversion biotechnologies. To this end, the goals of this project are to 1) onboard Methylococcus capsulatus to the Department of Energy’s Agile Biofoundry and develop genetic tools that enable high-throughput metabolic engineering of this bacterium; 2) map and compare M. capsulatus CH4 and CO2 carbon flux in wild-type and genetically engineered bacteria via 13C fluxomics; and 3) iteratively develop a predictive metabolic model to guide Design-Build-Test-Learn-based metabolic engineering approaches of methanotrophic biocatalysts. Expansion of an advanced genetic engineering toolbox and identification of the coordinated metabolic pathways mediating dual CH4/CO2 utilization and conversion in M. capsulatus will enable the rational metabolic engineering of these organisms for biomanufacturing of green fuels and chemicals from single carbon greenhouse gases. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.