Sequencing the DNA of Bacteria to Make Biofuel

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Sequencing The DNA Of Six Photosynthetic Bacteria To Make Biofuel To Warm Homes And Run Cars
Article Date: 11 Oct 2006

From Medical News Today

Excerpts:

1. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has devoted $1.6 million to sequencing the DNA of six photosynthetic bacteria that Washington University in St. Louis biologists will examine for their potential as one of the next sources of biofuel

2. There's a lot of power potential from microscopic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that capture sunlight and then do a variety of biochemical processes. One potential process, the clean production of ethanol, is a high priority for DOE.

3. Himadri Pakrasi, Ph.D., Washington University Endowed Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Energy in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, analyse genomes of six related strains of Cyanothece bacteria. One additional Cyanothece strain, 54112, already has been sequenced by the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif.

4. The amazing Cyanothece 54112 is a one-celled marine cyanobacteria. In particular, Cyanothece produces oxygen and assimilates carbon through photosynthesis during the day while fixing nitrogen through the night.

5. Cyanobacteria have a distinct advantage over biomass, such as corn or other grasses, in producing ethanol, because they use carbon dioxide as their primary cellular carbon source and emit no carbons and they naturally do fermentation. Cyanobacteria can offer a simpler, cleaner approach to ethanol production.

6. The diversity in those gene sequences will give the researchers an undrstanding of what the organisms do, allowing them to pick and choose and make a designer microbe that can perform specific functions.

7. One possible way to produce ethanol using Cyanothece strains is a hybrid combination of the microbe and plant matter where the cyanobacteria coexist with plants and enable fermentation. The model exists in nature.

8. A photobioreactor is used to make Cyanothece convert available sunlight into thick mats of green biomass, from which liquid ethanol can be extracted.

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