Designer Oxyphotobacteria and greenhouse distillation for photobiological ethanol production from carbon dioxide and water

摘要

The present invention provides a photobiological ethanol production and harvesting technology using greenhouse distillation systems with designer photosynthetic organisms, such as designer transgenic oxyphotobacteria. The designer oxyphotobacteria are created such that the endogenous photobiological regulation mechanism is tamed, and the reducing power (NADPH) and energy (ATP) acquired from the photosynthetic process are used for synthesis of ethanol (CH3CH2OH) directly from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). The designer use of a pair of NADPH-dependent vs. NAD-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases in the pathway designs offers a special cyclic “transhydrogenase” redox-shuttle function to convert NADPH to NADH for enhanced photobiological ethanol production. Through combined use of a designer photosynthetic organism with a greenhouse distillation system, the waste solar heat associated with the photobiological ethanol-production process is utilized in harvesting the produced ethanol. In addition to production and harvesting of ethanol, use of the technology can also produce intermediate metabolites and freshwater from seawater.

主权项

1. A method for photobiological production and harvesting of ethanol comprising growing a transgenic oxyphotobacterium or oxyphotobacterial cells in a liquid medium, wherein the oxyphotobacterium or oxyphotobacterial cells are genetically engineered with a set of DNA constructs to express a set of enzymes consisting of NAD-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase comprising SEQ ID NO: 40 or 53, pyruvate decarboxylase, and NAD(P)H-using alcohol dehydrogenase comprising SEQ ID NO: 7 or 17 that act on an intermediate product of the Calvin cycle and convert the intermediate product into ethanol using photosynthetic reducing power NADPH; and recovering ethanol from said liquid medium with a special greenhouse distillation system.