How sugar-loving microbes could help power future cars
In a new study, genetically engineered E. coli eat glucose, then help
turn it into molecules found in gasoline

Date:
November 22, 2021
Source:
University at Buffalo
Summary:
It sounds like modern-day alchemy: Transforming sugar into
hydrocarbons found in gasoline. But that's exactly what scientists
have done.

Researchers report harnessing the wonders of biology and
chemistry to turn glucose (a type of sugar) into olefins (a type
of hydrocarbon, and one of several types of molecules that make
up gasoline).



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
It sounds like modern-day alchemy: Transforming sugar into hydrocarbons
found in gasoline.


==========================================================================
But that's exactly what scientists have done.

In a forthcoming study in Nature Chemistry, researchers report harnessing
the wonders of biology and chemistry to turn glucose (a type of sugar)
into olefins (a type of hydrocarbon, and one of several types of molecules
that make up gasoline).

The project was led by biochemists Zhen Q. Wang at the University
at Buffalo and Michelle C. Y. Chang at the University of California,
Berkeley.

The paper, which will be published on Nov. 22, marks an advance in
efforts to create sustainable biofuels.

Olefins comprise a small percentage of the molecules in gasoline as it's currently produced, but the process the team developed could likely
be adjusted in the future to generate other types of hydrocarbons as
well, including some of the other components of gasoline, Wang says. She
also notes that olefins have non-fuel applications, as they are used in industrial lubricants and as precursors for making plastics.



==========================================================================
A two-step process using sugar-eating microbes and a catalyst To complete
the study, the researchers began by feeding glucose to strains of E. coli
that don't pose a danger to human health.

"These microbes are sugar junkies, even worse than our kids," Wang jokes.

The E. coliin the experiments were genetically engineered to produce
a suite of four enzymes that convert glucose into compounds called
3-hydroxy fatty acids.

As the bacteria consumed the glucose, they also started to make the
fatty acids.

To complete the transformation, the team used a catalyst called niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) to chop off unwanted parts of the fatty acids in a
chemical process, generating the final product: the olefins.



==========================================================================
The scientists identified the enzymes and catalyst through trial and
error, testing different molecules with properties that lent themselves
to the tasks at hand.

"We combined what biology can do the best with what chemistry can do
the best, and we put them together to create this two-step process,"
says Wang, PhD, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the
UB College of Arts and Sciences. "Using this method, we were able to
make olefins directly from glucose." Glucose comes from photosynthesis,
which pulls CO2 out of the air "Making biofuels from renewable resources
like glucose has great potential to advance green energy technology,"
Wang says.

"Glucose is produced by plants through photosynthesis, which turns
carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into oxygen and sugar. So the carbon in
the glucose - - and later the olefins -- is actually from carbon dioxide
that has been pulled out of the atmosphere," Wang explains.

More research is needed, however, to understand the benefits of the new
method and whether it can be scaled up efficiently for making biofuels
or for other purposes. One of the first questions that will need to be
answered is how much energy the process of producing the olefins consumes;
if the energy cost is too high, the technology would need to be optimized
to be practical on an industrial scale.

Scientists are also interested in increasing the yield. Currently, it
takes 100 glucose molecules to produce about 8 olefin molecules, Wang
says. She would like to improve that ratio, with a focus on coaxing the
E. coli to produce more of the 3-hydroxy fatty acids for every gram of
glucose consumed.

Co-authors of the study in Nature Chemistry include Wang; Chang;
Heng Song, PhD, at UC Berkeley and Wuhan University in China; Edward
J. Koleski, Noritaka Hara, PhD, and Yejin Min at UC Berkeley; Dae
Sung Park, PhD, Gaurav Kumar, PhD, and Paul J. Dauenhauer, PhD, at the University of Minnesota (Park is now at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology).

The research was supported by funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation; the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Program in
Environmental Chemistry; and the Research Foundation for the State
University of New York.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_at_Buffalo. Original
written by Charlotte Hsu.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Zhen Q. Wang, Heng Song, Edward J. Koleski, Noritaka Hara, Dae
Sung Park,
Gaurav Kumar, Yejin Min, Paul J. Dauenhauer, Michelle
C. Y. Chang. A dual cellular-heterogeneous catalyst strategy for
the production of olefins from glucose. Nature Chemistry, 2021;
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-021-00820-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211122135332.htm

--- up 1 week, 4 days, 2 hours, 54 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)