Synthetic biology for photobiological production of butanol and related higher alcohols from carbon dioxide and water

Abstract

This chapter presents an invention on creating biosafety-guarded designer photosynthetic organisms for photobiological production of butanol and related higher alcohols. The designer photosynthetic organisms 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 butanol and/or related higher alcohols from carbon dioxide and water. This photobiological biofuels-production method eliminates the problem of recalcitrant lignocellulosics by bypassing it. This technology is expected to have a much higher solar-to-biofuels energy-conversion efficiency than the conventional biomass technology. Furthermore, this approach enables the use of seawater and/or groundwater for photobiological production of higher alcohols (such as 1-butanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol) without requiring freshwater or agricultural soil, since the designer photosynthetic organisms can be created from certain marine algae and/or cyanobacteria that can use seawater and/or certain groundwater.