Engineering Microbes to Produce Fuel, Commodities, and Food from CO2

Shmuel Gleizer; Yinon M. Bar-On; Roee Ben-Nissan; Ron Milo

doi:10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100223

Engineering Microbes to Produce Fuel, Commodities, and Food from CO2

Shmuel Gleizer, Yinon M. Bar-On, Roee Ben-Nissan, Ron Milo

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

30 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Summary Humanity is facing two major challenges — the need to feed a growing population with limited land and freshwater resources and global warming, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere and its subsequent utilization lies at the heart of these challenges. Biological systems for CO2 conversion to organic molecules present a promising avenue due to their high product specificity and modularity. The possibility of combining renewable-energy-harvesting systems along with synthetic-CO2-using microorganisms is especially promising. In this article, we discuss recent major advances in engineering microbes to use CO2 and other one-carbon molecules as the feedstock. We portray the gap in cost that integrated abiotic-biotic systems for CO2 conversion should close to become cost competitive by using the techno-economic data of algae as an existing reference solution.

Original language	English
Article number	100223
Number of pages	8
Journal	Cell Reports Physical Science
Volume	1
Issue number	10
Early online date	14 Oct 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100223
Publication status	Published - 21 Oct 2020

Funding

We thank Vanessa Pahl, Benoit de Pins, Lior Shachar, Natalie Page, Karthik Sekar, Jan Zarzycki, Elad Noor, and Avi Flamholz for productive feedback on this manuscript. We thank Genia Brodsky for assisting with graphic design. This work was supported by the European Research Council, European Union (project NOVCARBFIX 646827); Israel Science Foundation 740/16; the Beck-Canadian Center for Alternative Energy Research; Dana and Yossie Hollander (USA); the Helmsley Charitable Foundation (USA); the Larson Charitable Foundation (USA); the Estate of David Arthur Barton (UK); the Anthony Stalbow Charitable Trust (Canada); and Stella Gelerman (Canada). R.M. is the Charles and Louise Gartner Professional Chair. Y.M.B.-O. is an Azrieli Fellow. Conceptualization, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., R.B.-N., and R.M.; Methodology, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., R.B.-N., and R.M.; Investigation, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., and R.B.-N.; Writing – Original Draft, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., and R.B.-N.; Writing – Review & Editing, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., R.B.-N., and R.M.; Funding Acquisition, R.M.; Resources, R.M.; Supervision, R.M. Author Contributions Conceptualization, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., R.B.-N., and R.M.; Methodology, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., R.B.-N., and R.M.; Investigation, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., and R.B.-N.; Writing – Original Draft, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., and R.B.-N.; Writing – Review & Editing, S.G., Y.M.B.-O., R.B.-N., and R.M.; Funding Acquisition, R.M.; Resources, R.M.; Supervision, R.M.

Access to Document

10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100223Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

rm_CellReportPhysicalScience_EngineeringMicrobes_PV2020.pdfFinal published version, 1.28 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

@article{d22b452e573646e994de43b1078b1620,

title = "Engineering Microbes to Produce Fuel, Commodities, and Food from CO2",

abstract = "Summary Humanity is facing two major challenges — the need to feed a growing population with limited land and freshwater resources and global warming, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere and its subsequent utilization lies at the heart of these challenges. Biological systems for CO2 conversion to organic molecules present a promising avenue due to their high product specificity and modularity. The possibility of combining renewable-energy-harvesting systems along with synthetic-CO2-using microorganisms is especially promising. In this article, we discuss recent major advances in engineering microbes to use CO2 and other one-carbon molecules as the feedstock. We portray the gap in cost that integrated abiotic-biotic systems for CO2 conversion should close to become cost competitive by using the techno-economic data of algae as an existing reference solution.",

author = "Shmuel Gleizer and Bar-On, {Yinon M.} and Roee Ben-Nissan and Ron Milo",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100223",

language = "English",

volume = "1",

journal = "Cell Reports Physical Science",

issn = "2666-3864",

publisher = "Cell Press",

number = "10",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Engineering Microbes to Produce Fuel, Commodities, and Food from CO2

AU - Gleizer, Shmuel

AU - Bar-On, Yinon M.

AU - Ben-Nissan, Roee

AU - Milo, Ron

PY - 2020/10/21

Y1 - 2020/10/21

N2 - Summary Humanity is facing two major challenges — the need to feed a growing population with limited land and freshwater resources and global warming, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere and its subsequent utilization lies at the heart of these challenges. Biological systems for CO2 conversion to organic molecules present a promising avenue due to their high product specificity and modularity. The possibility of combining renewable-energy-harvesting systems along with synthetic-CO2-using microorganisms is especially promising. In this article, we discuss recent major advances in engineering microbes to use CO2 and other one-carbon molecules as the feedstock. We portray the gap in cost that integrated abiotic-biotic systems for CO2 conversion should close to become cost competitive by using the techno-economic data of algae as an existing reference solution.

AB - Summary Humanity is facing two major challenges — the need to feed a growing population with limited land and freshwater resources and global warming, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere and its subsequent utilization lies at the heart of these challenges. Biological systems for CO2 conversion to organic molecules present a promising avenue due to their high product specificity and modularity. The possibility of combining renewable-energy-harvesting systems along with synthetic-CO2-using microorganisms is especially promising. In this article, we discuss recent major advances in engineering microbes to use CO2 and other one-carbon molecules as the feedstock. We portray the gap in cost that integrated abiotic-biotic systems for CO2 conversion should close to become cost competitive by using the techno-economic data of algae as an existing reference solution.

U2 - 10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100223

DO - 10.1016/j.xcrp.2020.100223

M3 - Article

SN - 2666-3864

VL - 1

JO - Cell Reports Physical Science

JF - Cell Reports Physical Science

IS - 10

M1 - 100223

ER -

Engineering Microbes to Produce Fuel, Commodities, and Food from CO2

Abstract

Funding

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this