"
Team:Uppsala-Sweden/Ethanol
From 2009.igem.org
Karl.brune (Talk | contribs) m |
Karl.brune (Talk | contribs) m |
||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
==How to == | ==How to == | ||
| - | + | Cyanobacteria have the capability to harvest the energy from the sun and convert it into other forms of energy. The natural way for these organisms is to store it as sugars or other carbohydrates in a way similar to plants. | |
| - | By introducing a casette of genes for ethanol production, we could get a | + | By introducing a casette of genes for ethanol production, we could get a cyanobacteria to start producing ethanol. However the yield from this might be very low since the bacteria have already evolved good pathways in the metabolism to take care of the energy. |
The source of carbon for the ethanol is pyruvate which is also used in the krebs cycle. To get a higher yield the pyruvate pool must be large enough for the ethanol anabolism. By blocking the pyruvate dehydrogenase the usage of pyruvate in the Krebs cycle can be reduced and the pyruvate used for ethanol production instead. | The source of carbon for the ethanol is pyruvate which is also used in the krebs cycle. To get a higher yield the pyruvate pool must be large enough for the ethanol anabolism. By blocking the pyruvate dehydrogenase the usage of pyruvate in the Krebs cycle can be reduced and the pyruvate used for ethanol production instead. | ||
Revision as of 19:33, 26 July 2009
The Ethanol Project
Our goal is to introduce ethanol producing capability into a cyanobacteria using the biobrick system.
How to
Cyanobacteria have the capability to harvest the energy from the sun and convert it into other forms of energy. The natural way for these organisms is to store it as sugars or other carbohydrates in a way similar to plants. By introducing a casette of genes for ethanol production, we could get a cyanobacteria to start producing ethanol. However the yield from this might be very low since the bacteria have already evolved good pathways in the metabolism to take care of the energy. The source of carbon for the ethanol is pyruvate which is also used in the krebs cycle. To get a higher yield the pyruvate pool must be large enough for the ethanol anabolism. By blocking the pyruvate dehydrogenase the usage of pyruvate in the Krebs cycle can be reduced and the pyruvate used for ethanol production instead.
The Construct
Here is the preliminary construct for Synechocystis 6803.
