Fatty acid production in genetically modified cyanobacteria

Xinyao Liu, Jie Sheng, Roy Curtiss

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

460 Scopus citations

Abstract

To avoid costly biomass recovery in photosynthetic microbial biofuel production, we genetically modified cyanobacteria to produce and secrete fatty acids. Starting with introducing an acyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase gene, we made six successive generations of genetic modifications of cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 wild type (SD100). The fatty acid secretion yield was increased to 197 ± 14 mg/L of culture in one improved strain at a cell density of 1.0 x 109 cells/mL by adding codon-optimized thioesterase genes and weakening polar cell wall layers. Although these strains exhibited damaged cell membranes at low cell densities, they grew more rapidly at high cell densities in late exponential and stationary phase and exhibited less cell damage than cells in wild-type cultures. Our results suggest that fatty acid secreting cyanobacteria are a promising technology for renewable biofuel production.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6899-6904
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume108
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 26 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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