Engineering of a microbial platform for the conversion of light energy into chemical and electrical energy

Engineering of a Microbial Platform for the Conversion of Light Energy into Chemical and Electrical Energy

Claudia M Schmidt-Dannert

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

CBET-0756296

Intellectual Merit

Capture and conversion of abundant solar energy will be essential for the development of sustainable, future biotechnologies. Photosynthesis is used for the production of biofuels mostly via traditional agricultural or forestry production systems, although efforts are increasingly directed at developing microbial photosynthesis for biohydrogen production. However, light-energy could potentially also be used to drive desirable energy demanding metabolic processes or the generation of electricity in engineered cells. This can be achieved by either metabolically engineering photosynthetic microbial cells such that light-energy can be channeled into desired metabolic outputs or electricity; or by installing lightconverting photochemical reaction centers (RC's) from photoautotrophic organisms into cells that have desired and flexible metabolic capabilities and/or ability to generate electricity.

Broader Impact:

This project will explore mechanisms by which abundant light-energy can be utilized to drive metabolic processes and electricity generation in engineered microbial cells. As such this project will impact the field of microbial biochemistry and biotechnology. Findings may promote additional engineering efforts aimed at interfacing photosynthetic components with metabolic processes in microbial cells.

This project will also provide interdisciplinary training in biochemistry, microbial and electrical engineering for two graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher. In addition, 2-4 undergraduate students are anticipated to participate at no additional costs. The Principal Investigators' laboratories have a strong track record of attracting female minority students to conduct directed research projects.