The awkward title we devised for this dispatch isn't that informative, we know; but, it does encapsulate the gist of what has been accomplished by a team of MIT scientists, under the sponsorship of the United States Department of Energy.
In essence, they have engineered a common bacteria, one which has become widely employed in the field of chemical manufacturing by genetically-modified microorganisms, to consume Carbon Dioxide and to use Carbon Dioxide as the source of Carbon in synthesizing a wide range of Carbon-containing, i.e. "Organic", products; products which have further utility as chemical intermediates or as raw materials in the consequent synthesis and production of fuels, plastics, and etc.
The upshot is that Carbon Dioxide can be seen and treated as a substitute source for "petrochemicals".
Our own personal inadequacies will make our presentation herein awkward; we much prefer to deal with "simpler" CO2 utilization technologies, like that seen in our recent report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | New York City CO2 to Methane via Artificial Photosynthesis | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20120208903 - Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Methane Using Visible Light; August, 2012; City University of New York, NYC; Abstract: The invention relates to a method for converting carbon dioxide to methane. The method comprises exposing carbon dioxide adsorbed on a nanoporous silicate matrix to light in the presence of a source of carbon dioxide and a source of hydrogen for a time and under conditions sufficient to convert carbon dioxide to methane";
which seems a more direct, energy-driven and catalyzed chemical process we can all sort of relate to.
But, we all also have a basic understanding that biological processes practiced by living organisms can be efficient ways to harness energy, and "get things done", "things" like creating food out of thin air, water and sunlight on our farms or converting plant materials into valuable products like Ethanol, as in a winery or brewery, for example.
And, we've all also gained at least a passing familiarity with the term "bio-engineering", with the general understanding that an organism's basic biological "blueprint", it's genetic material and chromosomes, can be altered to a certain extent, to get the "engineered" organism to do something it doesn't ordinarily do, or to do more of something that it does naturally in the first place.
Such "bio-engineering", under all it's various labels, has become something of a fairly large business, as more and more of the needed technical information gets established, disseminated and reduced to practice.
And, because it is so common, has been studied for so long, and is an inherently "robust" microorganism, one of the bacteria most often employed as the "host" for engineered genetics, and, subsequently, as a microscopic chemical factory, is the bacterium "Escherichia Coli", or, more commonly, just "E. Coli".
More can be learned via:
Escherichia coli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; "Escherichia coli, (E. coli) is a ... rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms. Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some (types) can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls due to food contamination. The harmless strains are part of the normal flora of the gut, and can benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K, and by preventing the establishment of pathogenic bacteria within the intestine. ... The bacterium can also be grown easily and inexpensively in a laboratory setting, and has been intensively investigated for over 60 years. E. coli is ... an important species in the fields of biotechnology and microbiology, where it has served as the host organism for the majority of work with recombinant DNA."
By way of illustration concerning how important "E. coli" actually is, in terms of it's use "in in the fields of biotechnology and microbiology", we submit, as sample references:
Microdiesel: Escherichia coli engineered for fuel production; "'Microdiesel: Escherichia Coli Engineered for Fuel Production'; Institut fur Molekulare Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Germany";
Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for direct production of 1,4-butanediol : Nature Chemical Biology : Nature Publishin; "'Metabolic Engineering of Escherichia Coli for Direct Production of 1,4 Butanediol'; 2011; Nature Chemical Biology"; and:
Microbial Cell Factories | Full text | Isobutyraldehyde production from Escherichia coli by removing aldehyde reductase activi; "'Isobutyraldehyde Production from Escherichia Coli'; Department of Chemistry, University of California".
In any case, we see herein that a company of geneticists and microbiologists, assembled from the faculty and the student body of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, some of whom, since this recent United States Patent was applied for, have moved on to other areas of the country and other arenas of endeavor, developed a genetically-modified version, or versions, of the E. Coli bacteria that is/are capable of consuming Carbon Dioxide, in processes driven solely by chemically energetic molecules also consumed by the bacteria, and of converting that Carbon Dioxide into a range of organic molecules which are more reactive and more available for chemical recombination into a range of Carbon-based compounds and products.
Comment follows and is inserted within excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"US Patent 8,349,587 - Methods and Systems for Chemoautotrophic Production of Organic Compounds
Methods and systems for chemoautotrophic production of organic compounds - Ginkgo BioWorks, Inc.
Date: January 8, 2013
Inventors: Curt R. Fischer, et. al., MA
(Again, at the time this patent was applied for, all the named inventors were associated in one way or another with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All, we believe, have since moved on. Curt Fischer, for instance, is now, we believe, serving a post-doctoral fellowship on the faculty of the College of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley.)
Assignee: Ginkgo BioWorks, Inc., Boston
(We don't know the nature, if any, of the business relationship between Ginkgo BioWorks and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, Gingko was founded originally, if we understand the available literature correctly, by the four named inventors of our subject herein, US Patent 8,349,587, and by another former MIT Professor, Tom Knight; Tom Knight (scientist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
See, as well: Startup That Builds Biological Parts | MIT Technology Review; and:
Ginkgo BioWorks; "Ginkgo BioWorks sells engineered organisms that make the world better"; and:
About | Ginkgo BioWorks; "Ginkgo BioWorks was founded in 2008 by five MIT PhDs. The mission is to make biology easy to engineer. Only when biological engineering is fast and predictable will we fulfill the potential of biological technologies to revolutionize the provision of food, medicine, energy, and materials.")
Abstract: The present disclosure identifies pathways, mechanisms, systems and methods to confer chemoautotrophic production of carbon-based products of interest, such as sugars, alcohols, chemicals, amino acids, polymers, fatty acids and their derivatives, hydrocarbons, isoprenoids, and intermediates thereof, in organisms such that these organisms efficiently convert inorganic carbon to organic carbon-based products of interest using inorganic energy, such as formate, and in particular the use of organisms for the commercial production of various carbon-based products of interest.
(They don't make it easy. You have to burrow all the way into the formal Summary of the complete document to find this statement:
"In various embodiments, the inorganic carbon is ... carbon dioxide."
"Formate" is another form of "inorganic carbon" which can be used; and which we will make note of further on.)
Government Interests: This invention was made with government support under contract number DE-AR0000091 awarded by U.S. Department of Energy, Office of ARPA-E. The government has certain rights in the invention.
(Concerning the above statement of US Department of Energy interests in this development, we remind you of our earlier report, concerning the USDOE-sponsored meeting of the Society for Biological Engineering which centered on "Electrofuels Research":
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE and Chemical Engineers Confer on CO2 Electrofuels | Research & Development; concerning: "electrofuels: SBE'S Conference on Electrofuels Research; November 6-9, 2011, Providence, RI; In an effort to expand and accelerate the investigation of novel sources of alternative energy, the Society for Biological Engineering (SBE) is sponsoring a new conference series on Electrofuels Research. The conference brings together key participants in energy innovation - engineers, scientists, venture capital investors, entrepreneurs, large corporations, and government officials - to share ideas and research strategies for developing and deploying new liquid transportation fuels. Instead of using petroleum or biomass, the processes to be discussed use microorganisms to harness chemical and electrical energy from sources such as solar-derived electricity or hydrogen or earth-abundant metal ions to convert carbon dioxide into liquid fuel with remarkably high efficiency".
And, at which conference was presented, on Wednesday, November 9: "Curt Fischer (Ginkgo Bioworks): 'Design, Construction, and Testing of Metabolic Modules for E. coli based Electrofuels Production'."
Gingko's formate-driven, E. coli-based CO2-recycling technology qualifies as an "electrofuel" development, again for reasons we will attempt to elucidate further on.)
Claims: An engineered cell for producing a carbon-based product, comprising: an at least partially engineered energy conversion pathway having a recombinant formate dehydrogenase or a recombinant sulfide-quinone oxidoreductase introduced into a host cell, wherein the recombinant formate dehydrogenase is encoded by (gene sequences specified) and said energy conversion pathway is capable of using energy from oxidation to produce a reduced cofactor; a carbon fixation pathway that is capable of converting inorganic carbon to a carbon-based central metabolite using energy from the reduced cofactor; and optionally, a carbon product biosynthetic pathway that is capable of converting the carbon-based central metabolite into a carbon-based product of interest.
(Again, keep in mind that the "inorganic carbon" is Carbon Dioxide, or "formate" which can, as seen in:
West Virginia Coal Association | United Technologies Converts CO2 to Formic Acid | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,921,585 - Electrolysis Cell and Method of Use; 1990; United Technologies Corporation; Abstract: The present invention discloses an improved solid polymer electrolysis cell for the reduction of carbon dioxide. The improvement being the use of a cathode having a metal phthalocyanine catalyst which results in the suppression of the formation of hydrogen during the reduction process and the subsequent improved conversion efficiency for carbon dioxide.(and) an improved electrolysis cell useful in the production of oxygen and the reduction of carbon dioxide. The improvement comprises the selection of the cathode material (which) will improve the conversion efficiency of carbon dioxide in the presence of hydrogen ions to organic compounds. The most prevalent reaction is the reduction of carbon dioxide to formic acid"; and;
West Virginia Coal Association | Japan Converts CO2 to Formic Acid | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,479,570 - Process for the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide; 2009; Assignee: Japan Science and Technology Agency; Abstract: Carbon dioxide and water are mixed with an organometallic complex (of varied and specified compositions). This makes it possible to directly reduce carbon dioxide in water. A reducing process of carbon dioxide, comprising mixing carbon dioxide and water with an organometallic complex ... so as to reduce carbon dioxide so that formic acid or alkali salt thereof is formed";
and as we will further document in additional reports to follow, be itself rather efficiently formed through electrolytic processes from Carbon Dioxide and Water. Thus, the entire process of our subject, "US Patent 8,349,587 - Methods and Systems Chemoautotrophic Production of Organic Compounds" can be seen to be based on Carbon Dioxide. The "Chemoautotrophic" bacteria utilized draw chemical energy from formate, which can itself, using environmental energy to drive the process, be synthesized from CO2.)
The engineered cell ... wherein the recombinant formate dehydrogenase reduces (chemically energetic organic molecules as specified).
The engineered cell ... wherein the energy conversion pathway includes the recombinant formate dehydrogenase and the energy from oxidation is from formate oxidation.
(Again, the needed energy is derived from "formate", which can itself separately be made from CO2.)
The engineered cell ... wherein the inorganic carbon is one or more of formate and carbon dioxide.
The engineered cell ... wherein said carbon fixation pathway is at least partially engineered and is derived from (multiple optional and well-known botanical and microorganism metabolic pathways.)
The engineered cell ... wherein the host cell is selected from the group consisting of Escherichia coli (and/or other optional, specified microorganisms.)
The engineered cell ... wherein the host cell is Escherichia coli.
(E. coli is preferred as the "factory" host for the transplanted "Chemoautotrophic" genetic material that drives the CO2 utilization metabolic processes. If all of this sounds too fanciful, have a look at the full patent document and it's catalogue of basic scientific references, which includes an extensive list of studies, such as: '"A Bicyclic Autotrophic CO2 Fixation Pathway in Chloroflexus aurantiacus,' Journal of Bacteriology. (2002)" and "'Autotrophic CO2 Fixation via the Reductive Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle in Different Lineages Within the Phylum Aquificae: Evidence for Two Ways of Citrate Cleavage'; Environmental Microbiology. (2007)", among many others. We assure you that this is well-established science, as foreign and alien as it might sound to those of us who never have to figure out anything more technical than what heat range of thermostat we want to put into our 4x4's for the coming winter, or what weight of oil to use in them when we're towing our boats over to the shore for a little fishing. All of this is, in certain scientific circles, well established stuff.)
The invention relates to systems, mechanisms and methods to confer chemoautotrophic production of carbon-based products to a heterotrophic organism to efficiently convert inorganic carbon into various carbon-based products using chemical energy, and in particular the use of such organism for the commercial production of various carbon-based products of interest. The invention also relates to systems, mechanisms and methods to confer additional and/or alternative pathways for chemoautotrophic production of carbon-based products to an organism that is already autotrophic ... .
Heterotrophs are biological organisms that utilize energy from organic compounds for growth and reproduction. Commercial production of various carbon-based products of interest generally relies on heterotrophic organisms that ferment sugar from crop biomass such as corn or sugarcane as their energy and carbon source.
An alternative to fermentation-based bio-production is the production of carbon-based products of interest from photosynthetic organisms, such as plants, algae and cyanobacteria, that derive their energy from sunlight and their carbon from carbon dioxide ... . However, the algae-based production of carbon-based products of interest relies on the relatively inefficient process of photosynthesis to supply the reducing power needed for production of organic compounds from carbon dioxide. Moreover, commercial production of carbon-based products of interest using photosynthetic organisms relies on reliable and consistent exposure to light to achieve the high productivities needed for economic feasibility; hence, photobioreactor design remains a significant technical challenge.
(That "challenge" with "the algae-based production of carbon-based products of interest" from Carbon Dioxide has been pretty much met, as we've documented in other of our reports, such as:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Algae Recycle More CO2 and Produce Ethanol | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent 7,973,214 - Designer Organisms for Photosynthetic Production of Ethanol from CO2 and Water; 2011; UT-Battelle, LLC, Oak Ridge; Abstract: The present invention provides a revolutionary photosynthetic ethanol production technology based on designer transgenic plants, algae, or plant cells. The designer plants, designer algae, and designer plant cells are created such that the endogenous photosynthesis regulation mechanism is tamed, and the reducing power and energy acquired from the photosynthetic (processes) are used for immediate synthesis of ethanol directly from carbon dioxide and water".
But, Gingko BioWorks are promoting their bacteria-based CO2-recycling process, and, that's okay. From our perspective, it's all good.)
Chemoautotrophs are biological organisms that utilize energy from inorganic energy sources such as molecular hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia or ferrous iron, and carbon dioxide to produce all organic compounds necessary for growth and reproduction. Existing, naturally-occurring chemoautotrophs are poorly suited for industrial bio-processing and have therefore not demonstrated commercial viability for this purpose. Such organisms have long doubling times (minimum of approximately one hour for Thiomicrospira crunogena but generally much longer) relative to industrialized heterotrophic organisms such as Escherichia coli (twenty minutes), reflective of low total productivities. In addition, techniques for genetic manipulation (homologous recombination, transformation or transfection of nucleic acid molecules, and recombinant gene expression) are inefficient, time-consuming, laborious or non-existent.
Accordingly, the ability to endow an otherwise heterotrophic organism with chemoautotrophic capability would significantly enable more energy- and carbon-efficient production of carbon-based products of interest. Alternatively, the ability to add one or more additional or alternative pathways for chemoautotrophic capability to an autotrophic or mixotrophic organism would enhance its ability to produce carbon-based products of interest.
Summary: Systems and methods of the present invention provide for efficient production of renewable energy and other carbon-based products of interest (e.g., fuels, sugars, chemicals) from inorganic carbon (e.g., greenhouse gas) using inorganic energy.
As such, the present invention materially contributes to the development of renewable energy and/or energy conservation, as well as greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Furthermore, systems and methods of the present invention can be used in the place of traditional methods of producing chemicals such as olefins (e.g., ethylene, propylene), which are traditionally derived from petroleum ... . As such, the present invention can additionally avoid the use of petroleum and the generation of such toxic by-products, and thus materially enhances the quality of the environment by contributing to the maintenance of basic life-sustaining natural elements such as air, water and/or soil by avoiding the generation of hazardous waste pollutants in the form of petroleum-derived by-products in the production of various chemicals.
In certain aspect, the invention described herein provides an organism engineered to confer chemoautotrophic production of various carbon-based products of interest from inorganic carbon and inorganic energy. The engineered organism comprises a modular metabolic architecture encompassing three metabolic modules. The first module comprises one or more energy conversion pathways that use energy from an inorganic energy source, such as formate, formic acid, (etc.) to produce reduced cofactors inside the cell ... . The second module comprises one or more carbon fixation pathways that use energy from reduced cofactors to convert inorganic carbon, such as carbon dioxide ... to central metabolites, such as acetyl-coA, pyruvate, pyruvic acid, 3-hydropropionate, 3-hydroxypropionic acid, glycolate, glycolic acid, glyoxylate, glyoxylic acid, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, malate, malic acid, lactate, lactic acid, acetate, acetic acid, citrate and/or citric acid. Optionally, the third module comprises one or more carbon product biosynthetic pathways that convert central metabolites into desired products, such as carbon-based products of interest. Carbon-based products of interest include but are not limited to alcohols, fatty acids, fatty acid derivatives, fatty alcohols, fatty acid esters, wax esters, hydrocarbons, alkanes, polymers, fuels, commodity chemicals, specialty chemicals, carotenoids, isoprenoids, sugars, sugar phosphates, central metabolites, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical intermediates.
The resulting engineered chemoautotroph of the invention is capable of efficiently synthesizing carbon-based products of interest from inorganic carbon using inorganic energy. The invention also provides energy conversion pathways, carbon fixation pathways and carbon product biosynthetic pathways for conferring chemoautotrophic production of the carbon-based product of interest upon the host organism where the organism lacks the ability to efficiently produce carbon-based products of interest from inorganic carbon using inorganic energy. The invention also provides methods for culturing the engineered chemoautotroph to support efficient chemoautotrophic production of carbon-based products of interest.
In various embodiments, the inorganic carbon is one or more of formate and carbon dioxide.
The present invention relates to developing and using engineered chemoautotrophs capable of utilizing energy from inorganic energy sources and inorganic carbon to produce a desired product. The invention provides for the engineering of a heterotrophic organism, for example, Escherichia coli or other organism suitable for commercial large-scale production of fuels and chemicals, that can efficiently utilize inorganic energy sources and inorganic carbon as a substrate for growth (a chemoautotroph) and for chemical production provides cost-advantaged processes for manufacturing of carbon based products of interest. The organisms can be optimized and tested rapidly and at reasonable costs. The invention further provides for the engineering of an autotrophic organism to include one or more additional or alternative pathways for utilization of inorganic energy sources and inorganic carbon to produce central metabolites for growth and/or other desired products.
In some embodiments, the invention provides for the use of an inorganic energy source, such as molecular hydrogen or formate, derived from electrolysis. There is tremendous commercial activity towards the goal of renewable and/or carbon-neutral energy from solar voltaic, geothermal, wind, nuclear, hydroelectric and more. However, most of these technologies produce electricity and are thus limited in use to the electrical grid. Furthermore, at least some of these renewable energy sources such as solar and wind suffer from being intermittent and unreliable. The lack of practical, large scale electricity storage technologies limits how much of the electricity demand can be shifted to renewable sources. The ability to store electrical energy in chemical form, such as in carbon-based products of interest, would both offer a means for large-scale electricity storage and allow renewable electricity to meet energy demand from the transportation sector. Renewable electricity combined with electrolysis, such as the electrochemical production of hydrogen from water ... or formate/formic acid from carbon dioxide, opens the possibility of a sustainable, renewable supply of the inorganic energy source as one aspect of the present invention.
In some embodiments, the invention provides for the use of an inorganic carbon source, such as carbon dioxide, derived from waste streams. For example, carbon dioxide is a component of synthesis gas, the major product of gasification of coal ... . Additional sources include, but are not limited to, ... combustion of wood and fossil fuels; production of carbon dioxide as a byproduct of fermentation of sugar in the brewing of beer, whisky and other alcoholic beverages, or other fermentative processes; thermal decomposition of limestone, CaCO3, in the manufacture of lime, CaO; production of carbon dioxide as byproduct of sodium phosphate manufacture; and directly from natural carbon dioxide springs, where it is produced by the action of acidified water on limestone or dolomite.
As used herein, the term "chemotroph" or "chemotrophic organism" refers to organisms that obtain energy from the oxidation of electron donors in their environment. As used herein, the term "chemoautotroph" or "chemoautotrophic organism" refers to organisms that produce complex organic compounds from simple inorganic carbon molecules using oxidation of inorganic compounds as an external source of energy. In contrast, "heterotrophs" or "heterotrophic organisms" refers to organisms that must use organic carbon for growth because they cannot convert inorganic carbon into organic carbon. Instead, heterotrophs obtain energy by breaking down the organic molecules they consume. Organisms that can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon are mixotrophs or mixotrophic organisms which can alternate, e.g., between autotrophy and heterotrophy, between phototrophy and chemotrophy, between lithotrophy and organotrophy, or a combination thereof, depending on environmental conditions.
As used herein, the term "inorganic energy source", "electron donor", "source of reducing power" or "source of reducing equivalents" refers to chemical species, such as formate, formic acid, methane, carbon monoxide, ... with high potential electron(s) that can be donated to another chemical species with a concomitant release of energy (a process by which the electron donor undergoes "oxidation" and the other, recipient chemical species or "electron acceptor" undergoes "reduction").
As used herein, the term "inorganic carbon" or "inorganic carbon compound" refers to chemical species, such as carbon dioxide ... that contains carbon but lacks the carbon-carbon bounds characteristic of organic carbon compounds. Inorganic carbon may be present in a gaseous form, such as ... carbon dioxide, or may be present in a liquid form, such as formate.
Reference to a particular chemical species includes not only that species but also water-solvated forms of the species, unless otherwise stated. For example, carbon dioxide includes not only the gaseous form (CO2) but also water-solvated forms, such as bicarbonate ion.
As used herein, the term "engineered chemoautotroph" or "engineered chemoautotrophic organism" refers to organisms that have been genetically engineered to convert inorganic carbon compounds, such as carbon dioxide or formate, to organic carbon compounds using energy derived from inorganic energy sources.
The term "engineer," "engineering" or "engineered," as used herein, refers to genetic manipulation or modification of biomolecules such as DNA, RNA and/or protein, or like technique commonly known in the biotechnology art.
As used herein, the term "carbon based products of interest" refers to include alcohols such as ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, butanol, octanol, hydrocarbons and alkanes such as propane, octane, diesel, Jet Propellant 8, polymers, ... , acrylate, ... rubber; chemicals such as ... ethylene, propylene, (etc.).
Other terms used in the fields of recombinant nucleic acid technology, microbiology, metabolic engineering, and molecular and cell biology as used herein will be generally understood by one of ordinary skill in the applicable arts.
Electrolytic/Electrochemical Production of Hydrogen and Formate
Hydrogen gas and formate can be produced via the electrolysis of H2O and the electrochemical conversion CO2, respectively. Each has advantages and disadvantages as inorganic energy sources for the engineered chemoautotroph of the present invention.
(Concerning how relatively easy it could actually be to generate a little "Hydrogen gas", we remind you, for just on example, of our report concerning:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Hydrogen from Sunlight and Water | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,476,105 - Process for Photosynthetically Splitting Water; 1984; Assignee: The United States of America; Abstract: The invention is an improved process for producing gaseous hydrogen and oxygen from water. The process is conducted in a photolytic reactor which contains a water-suspension of a photoactive material containing a hydrogen-liberating catalyst”.)
Hydrogen gas mixtures with air are explosive across a wide range of hydrogen compositions. Hence, use of hydrogen gas as an inorganic energy source and oxygen gas as the terminal electron acceptor of an engineered chemoautotroph must necessarily be set up to cope with the resulting safety risk. To address this challenge, the reactor or fermentation conditions may be kept substantially anaerobic and alternative electron acceptors, such as nitrate, may be used.
The energy efficiency of electrolysis for production of hydrogen or electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide impacts the overall energy efficiency of a bio-manufacturing process using an engineered chemoautotroph of the present invention. Electrolyzers achieve overall energy efficiencies of 56-73% at current densities of 110-300 mA/cm2 (alkaline electrolyzers) or 800-1600 mA/cm2 (PEM electrolyzers). In contrast, electrochemical systems to date have achieved moderate energy efficiencies or high current densities but not at the same time. Hence, additional technology improvements are needed for electrochemical production of formate.
Organisms or Host Cells for Engineering
The host cell or organism, as disclosed herein, may be chosen from eukaryotic or prokaryotic systems, such as bacterial cells (Gram-negative or Gram-positive), archaea, yeast cells, animal cells and cell lines (such as Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells), plant cells and cell lines, and/or insect cells and cell lines. Suitable cells and cell lines can also include those commonly used in laboratories and/or industrial applications. In some embodiments, host cells/organisms can be selected from Escherichia coli ... .
Those skilled in the art would understand that the genetic modifications, including metabolic alterations exemplified herein, are described with reference to a suitable host organism such as E. coli and their corresponding metabolic reactions or a suitable source organism for desired nucleic acids such as genes for a desired metabolic pathway. However, given the complete genome sequencing of a wide variety of organisms and the high level of skill in the area of genomics, those skilled in the art would readily be able to apply the teachings and guidance provided herein to essentially all other host cells and organisms.
In various aspects of the invention, the cells are genetically engineered or metabolically evolved, for example, for the purposes of optimized energy conversion and/or carbon fixation. The terms "metabolically evolved" or "metabolic evolution" relates to growth-based selection (metabolic evolution) of host cells that demonstrate improved growth (cell yield)."
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In sum: Bacteria can be genetically modified so that they are capable, on an industrial scale, of consuming Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide derivatives, i.e., "formate", and then converting that CO2 into such seemingly-interesting things as "ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, butanol, octanol, hydrocarbons and alkanes such as propane, octane, diesel, Jet Propellant 8, polymers, ... , acrylate, ... rubber; chemicals such as ... ethylene, propylene, (etc.)".
Now, truth to tell, we've all heard a lot about the promise of industrial-scale bio-based manufacturing using genetically-modified or enhanced microorganisms - which is, in essence, what our subject is all about. But, in honesty, there really isn't a whole lot of if going on in the world, despite what you might have heard. There is a fair amount of industrial fermentation, which is pretty much what it sounds like; and, it's all fairly conventional stuff. Algae is being grown here and there in industrial-scale bio-reactors of one sort or another, but mostly for animal feed and fertilizer. Most genetically-modified bacteria, like those described by our subject herein, are being used for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics on a fairly low-volume basis.
So, in honesty, we, here, have no idea how realistic it might be to expect that someone will come along and commercialize or industrialize the USDOE-financed Gingko BioWorks Carbon Dioxide utilization pathway defined by our subject herein, "US Patent 8,349,587 - Methods and Systems for Chemoautotrophic Production of Organic Compounds".
Certainly, the potentials seem worth exploring, especially as alternatives to punitive Cap and Trade taxation schemes and our ongoing national economic enslavement to OPEC.
But, no one in Coal Country is going to have the opportunity to help explore those potentials unless they know those potentials exist; and, again in honesty, we, here, have no idea how anyone is going to get educated about them, learn that they exist, given the now obvious disinterest in and distaste for Coal-related subjects lately exhibited by the Coal Country public press corps, who have all seemed to have pitched their tents over a methane leak in Gasland, where they now spend their anoxic, giddy days sipping frac waste tea and earnestly contemplating EQT and CHK press releases, like faithful disciples searching holy scripture for eternal truths and insight into the meaning of life.
All we can suggest is this: If you've followed our posts thus far, and see any merit in the facts that Coal can, cleanly and economically, be converted into anything, quite literally anything, we now mortgage our nation's future to the alien powers of OPEC to keep ourselves supplied with in the here and now; and, that Carbon Dioxide can be recycled into the same sorts of things, then;
Write to your Congressmen, write to your Congresswomen, write to your US Senators.
Write to your state government elected representatives.
Print copies of any of these dispatches you might find of particular interest, and send those to them.
Ask for their help.
Maybe, just maybe, if one or two of them come out and say something publicly about Coal conversion or Carbon Dioxide recycling, one of your Coal Country news reporters might accidentally hear it while they're changing tapes in their cassette players, from Side Ib to Side 2a, selected from the "Course in Shale Gas Miracles", as read by the Reverend Moon, and feel compelled to write a word or two.